tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21911618605066750202024-03-08T06:58:49.025+00:00A September Chill...Software Development and anything else that comes to mind…Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-3414163611201257172013-10-18T15:59:00.001+01:002013-10-18T15:59:19.502+01:005. Expectations – Isaac & Serena<p>“Is this real?”</p> <p>“What do you mean?”</p> <p>“Can I adjust this and will it really happen?”</p> <p>“You could say that.”</p> <p>“I just did (say that – that is) – my question was: will it really happen?”</p> <p>“That depends on you.”</p> <p>“Don't treat me like a child.”</p> <p>“It's the truth – and I'm sorry about the choice of vocabulary; it really does depend on you.”</p> <p>“I feel like a character in a film I once saw.”</p> <p>“Interesting – what was the plot?”</p> <p>“He was asking for parole after murdering somebody – but each year he'd feed them a line about how he was rehabilitated and each time they turned him down; it wasn't until he gave up trying to guess what the right thing to say was that he was set free.”</p> <p>“I've seen it”, he flicks the ash from his cigarette, “ – it's a good film.”</p> <p>“I didn't see you light up!?”</p> <p>“What were we talking about?”, Isaac's phone went...<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sX4pS-K8-Nk/UmFMxKO929I/AAAAAAAAKEI/fPWJXfYJ88Y/s1600-h/DSC03167%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="DSC03167" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 8px 16px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="DSC03167" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-qYyBjU_tgq4/UmFMxtY1qSI/AAAAAAAAKEM/iPfrf5ECPxQ/DSC03167_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160"></a></p> <p>“Hold on a mo'... Yes? Right – so without that she doesn't... and so we... ahhh – right, I should have known that before I came in. OK – damn. I'll make the change – leave her be. Yes – I know, let's see what happens.”, he hung up and placed the phone back inside his jacket, breathed in and quietly uttered beneath his breath:</p> <p>“He relit his cigarette whilst thinking of her emotional state”</p> <p>“What did you just say?”, silence... he said nothing and looked down at his feet, gently clapping his hands together as if he'd just finished gardening and was rubbing the soil from them. </p> <p>“You said something about my emotional state... Oh my god! You – you're changing me.”</p> <p>“And now you can do it too – to yourself, not me... If you can start to handle this properly you might find that you can do more than read, in the not too distant future. In answer to your first question: No – it would have not 'really happened'; but if you get through this next stage it might.”</p> <p>“I can change myself! Fantastic! ...but what if I change something that causes me to not remember how to change myself back? I could become someone else and not know how to fix myself.”</p> <p>“Terrifying, I think, but you're absolutely right; you could do that very thing and end up going up your own arse hole!”</p> <p>“That's not very comforting.”</p> <p>“It was supposed to be funny.”</p> <p>“It's not.”</p> <p>“Well – ok, 'that's what I'm here for, to keep you safe...'”</p> <p>“Why do I find that hard to believe?”</p> <p>“Because I'm in a comedic mood and the – oh forget it; just try it out will you?”</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-29106555669007731442013-10-18T15:39:00.001+01:002013-10-18T15:39:06.125+01:004. Traffic Calming Part II – Donaldson & Stevens<p>“You remember that wireless calming system that you thought may have caused a problem with Karl Bernahrdsson's pacemaker?”</p> <p>“Yes, do you want me to come down?”</p> <p>“It might make more sense – I do hate acting these things out on the phone...”, Donaldson placed the phone back on the receiver and switched on the old black metal electric fan. He started thinking whether the fans electric field was causing interference that the sites systems were picking up; and, if so, were the systems attempting to cancel them out. </p> <p>“Right, go ahead.”, Stevens had arrived.</p> <p>“That would be impossible though, right?”</p> <p>“What would be impossible? – try to include me in any preamble when you want to discuss ideas, you know, just to bring me up to speed.”</p> <p>“I was wondering if the electric fan here”, he turned it off, “would generate enough of an electromagnetic field to cause the 'radio calming' systems to try to cancel it out.”</p> <p>“Oh...”, Stevens looked less than enthusiastic, having left the problem with Donaldson he'd not given it another thought since.</p> <p>“But it would be impossible, wouldn't it?”<img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 19px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Herzschrittmacher_auf_Roentgenbild.jpg/729px-Herzschrittmacher_auf_Roentgenbild.jpg" width="227" height="187"></p> <p>“I don't know – why?”</p> <p>“They'd need to pick up the signal of the interference in order to know what to cancel it out with.”</p> <p>“True – they would. Yes, you're right – it couldn't be cancelled out”</p> <p>“Then how do they expect to cancel out radio hotspots unless they're actually there experiencing it?”</p> <p>“Ahhh – right, well, they might then.”</p> <p>“They might? Another fine answer... please explain!”</p> <p>“Well”, Stevens continued, “it might just be that the system models the electromagentic spectrum in order to 'predict' hot spots; it then transmits similar signals...”</p> <p>“Yes – I know, to cancel it out...”</p> <p>“Well, yes, but I should clarify – this is somewhat separate from the standard 'noise reduction' as the mechanism to cancel out the noise needs to be delivered to a particular place and is almost always achieved through refraction and reflection of the signals – not a straight forward 'anti-replication' of the signal passing through the building.”</p> <p>“I can't quite imagine that – although I'll take your word for it”</p> <p>“Good – I'd hate to have to explain the code behind the software that models it. What did you want me for – just that?”</p> <p>“No – something else; although your answer may have helped me on the way. The system seems to never reach a balance. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to when the areas it is monitoring are occupied although I've isolated some sections and it looks as though even when the living quarters are empty the system seems 'at war' with itself.”</p> <p>“OK, I'll bite, what do you mean?”</p> <p>“I mean, well, let's say there's a hot spot in cabin 1; the system models that – you say – and then provides signals that will cancel out that hot spot.”</p> <p>“Sounds about right.”</p> <p>“Then, shortly afterwards there's a hot spot somewhere else, perhaps – given what you've just told me – because the system has just adjusted what it is transmitting”</p> <p><a title="A diagram of the EM spectrum @ Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EM_Spectrum_Properties_edit.svg" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin: 6px 12px 6px 0px; display: inline" align="left" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/EM_Spectrum_Properties_edit.svg/675px-EM_Spectrum_Properties_edit.svg.png" width="351" height="208"></a>“OK”</p> <p>“It then adds it's 'new move' to the model and finds that it must calm that hot spot.”</p> <p>“Yes – that sounds right too”</p> <p>“So this loop keeps on progressing and progressing until what?”</p> <p>“What do you mean?”</p> <p>“Does the antenna burn out – all this signal noise intended to drown out a hotspot surely causes more damage than the one hotspot eventually?”</p> <p>“Ahh – no, the system should understand when it no longer.... Hmmm, I see your confusion – the signals the 'wireless calming' system outputs are not leyered one on top of the other – the whole system is modelled and the best 'single' complex blanket pattern is deployed for the 'imagined' state of the site.”</p> <p>“By imagined I guess you mean the model that the computer has calculated”</p> <p>“Yes”</p> <p>“But how can it calculate it if it is constantly cocking it up? Schrödinger's cat comes to mind – how the hell can you tell what state it's in if your poking away at it every millisecond?”</p> <p>“You can't – it guesses.”</p> <p>“This is getting beyond a joke. So there's this 'radio signal noise' that purveys, no, that surrounds every inch of our life and, in order to keep it under control, we employ a computer to guess where the noise is noisiest so we can attempt to cancel it out with more noise; which, if done incorrectly, could result in fatalities?”</p> <p>“Pretty much.”</p> <p>“You must be hiding something from me – otherwise people in Oaklands would be dropping dead every day. Why does it work?”</p> <p>“Generally speaking the signals are of such low power they're not really an issue, the whole idea of cancelling them out seems like a publicity stunt for Oaklands anyway – if there was a health hazard we'd be doing it everywhere...”, he stepped over to the water cooler and poured some water, “the system is not constantly in 'output' mode, it <i>does</i> stop to listen to what is happening without interfering from time to time. This gives it the opportunity to update the model and send out the correct 'blanket' signal that it needs to...”<img style="float: right; margin: 14px 0px 0px 14px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/9/9f/20100727091210%21First_pacemaker_%28Siemens-Elema_1958%29.jpg" width="226" height="213"></p> <p>“Thank god for that! I was waiting for you to tell me you'd discovered that radio waves have a 'memory' like water – and you can 'ask them' where they've got a little bit hot under the collar?”</p> <p>“No; we're not quite away with the fairies.”</p> <p>“Well if that's true then why the instability – surely the system would vary only when occupants were interfering with the signals by using wireless enabled systems.”</p> <p>“That would be my expectation, yes.”</p> <p>“Well that's not what it happening!”, Donaldson put his feet up on the desk and folded his arms as if to indicate his work was over.</p> <p>“The idea was to establish why Karl Bernahrdsson's pacemaker failed to restart his heart; not simply pick holes in the wireless calming system.”, Stevens knew that the best reaction to this was a resignation on his part – let Donaldson lead for a moment, he obviously had more information than he was letting on.</p> <p>“OK – well I requested an autopsy report. It seems our dearly departed Karl was somewhat cooked from the inside out – judging from his activities leading up to his death he was finding it more and more difficult to get out of the house and so spent time working from home. Hot spots in his apartment are far from regular – but if you put a bag of bones in there (and the accompanying water that goes with it) the 'imagined system' that I've been informed of contains hotspots in his bed, on the sofa – just about where he watches the TV) and in the bath.”</p> <p>“Sounds like someone was trying to kill him.”</p> <p>“I thought that too.”</p> <p>“Anything odd about the software? Have you asked it why the hot spots are there?”</p> <p>“I don't have permission to 'converse' with it.”</p> <p>“I'll get that changed – and I'll get you a list of the people who did.”</p> <p>“Thanks – oh, and just reassure me, we don't have 'noise cancellation' here do we?”</p> <p>“Funny.”, Stevens raised his eyebrows in disapproval at the joke and left.</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-41742814691070034872013-10-18T15:16:00.001+01:002013-10-18T15:16:29.634+01:003. False Memory Theory – Isaac & Serena<p>“So how's it going”, Isaac had been sitting next to Serena for about five minutes before he interrupted her chain of thought...</p> <p>“How <i>is</i> it going”</p> <p>“Come on now, there's no need to get all grammatical on me.”</p> <p>“I'm sorry – but it would be so simple just to get it right.”, she looked up at him conveying, facially, a level of helplessness and, at the same time, disappointment,</p> <p>“No need to apologise – we have a lot to sort out and no time for that level of politeness. They're both right – incidentally... ”<img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 9px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg" width="200" height="284"></p> <p>“Not necessarily in written form. OK – I agree about the politeness”, her body contracted down into the chair slightly.</p> <p>“Are you shaking?”</p> <p>“Something like that – I think it's just too much coffee”</p> <p>“You've not had that much have you?”</p> <p>“I don't know – I've lost track”</p> <p>“Well, here have some water”</p> <p>“If you think it will help.”</p> <p>“Possibly...”</p> <p>“What do you want?”</p> <p>“Just to see how you are.”</p> <p>“Well, how am I?”</p> <p>“That's what I'm asking you.”</p> <p>There was a pause. The conversation was brisk.</p> <p>“I don't quite see what it is you want to tell me; or what you want me to tell you.”</p> <p>“Good – you're jumping ahead, but remember, although I want you to be honest, I need you to keep things sequential. There's no good in jumping ahead of me – although you can read what I'm about to ask there are things I know that you don't.”</p> <p>“Then what's the point in being able to read you?”</p> <p>“It gives you an opportunity to frame your answer. Choose a good 'response frame' into which you can fit your answer”</p> <p>“And if the answer doesn't fit your question?”</p> <p>“Well then you choose a better frame”</p> <p>“Then what was the point in framing before I knew the answer?”</p> <p>“It makes your response seem more immediate, more believable to … me.”</p> <p>She laughed, “This is pointless”</p> <p>“Why?”</p> <p>“Everything seems pointless”</p> <p>“Well let's give you something to do then”</p> <p>“OK”, she stared at him, “I'm starting not to trust you”</p> <p>“But you wouldn't lie to me, would you?”</p> <p>“I'm not allowed to”</p> <p>“Well if you're not allowed to then why would you start to not trust me?”</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-sRbhpd5e2hg/UmFCtv2xpbI/AAAAAAAAKDk/Y2JwTQBr1dQ/s1600-h/DSC02995%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="DSC02995" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 11px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="DSC02995" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-YNNqF-o6d54/UmFCuD_fsnI/AAAAAAAAKDo/hX4Li82JcQw/DSC02995_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160"></a>“It's an expression – I... 'like' you.”, she moved the lighter to a 45 degree angle and turned it over to hide the starfish; a green and black cartoon crab stared back; </p> <p>“Well, I'm glad to hear it, I like you too – remember, we did know it each other <i>very</i> well for a time.”</p> <p>“I'm starting to doubt that.”</p> <p>“Oh – so you think that might be a false memory? Been reading up on your Freud have you.”</p> <p>“Something like that”</p> <p>“Well if you haven't then look into it – Freud had a take on that sort...”</p> <p>“I CAN'T LIE TO YOU...!”, it was shouted, she crossed her arms. Isaac was taken aback:</p> <p>“OK, ok, it's just conversation... It seemed like a non-committal answer, if you ask me – now Freud, a take... er on that – ah here we are – sort ...of thing and it might prove useful when you're trying to express yourself.”</p> <p>She visibly shook as if in anger or hatred; as if she found her self stuck somewhere, tied down; Iasaac lent forward and touched her arm – for the first time with any sort of empathy, “OK?”</p> <p>“Thank you”, she visibly relaxed and took a sip of the water in front of her.</p> <p>A long pause... Serena watched him as if observing a long lost memory, watching him survey the surroundings as though they were of some consequence and then she moved her attention to the cartoon 'emerald crab'. One half-leg of a star fish from the table-side of the lighter wrapped around it's edge into her view and she began to feel as though she missed them dearly.</p> <p>“Still smoking then?”, he leaned back on his chair</p> <p>“Yes – for the moment... it doesn't seem to matter any more.”</p> <p>“Well – yes, I can see that point of view, but I'd be inclined to give up for the sake of it; if it doesn't matter there's no point doing it is there?”</p> <p>“If you say so.”, annoyance returned.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-y0LVyp145Hk/UmFCuhimplI/AAAAAAAAKD0/rcF7ZNKrpS0/s1600-h/DSC02691%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="DSC02691" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 9px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="DSC02691" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-n-FYiAOcFZE/UmFCvNd7u6I/AAAAAAAAKD4/QZ6md0XrCfs/DSC02691_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="240"></a></p> <p>“Why would you be annoyed about that?”</p> <p>“You're always telling me what to do...”</p> <p>“You used to like that!”</p> <p>“That was different – I enjoyed what we were doing then”</p> <p>“Hmmm – I remember... Maybe we should try some role reversal and you tell me what to do next time”</p> <p>“You sound like a bad book”</p> <p>“Like a bad dog? A book that has done a bad thing? ...or a badly written book. I mean, really, you were bad in bed – but I never complained. It was good.”</p> <p>“You've made your point.”, she stopped and seemed truly confused. “It'll never happen – let's stick to work... Please – if this is important, as you suggest, I don't think it's a good idea to get confused as to what's real and what's not.”</p> <p>“It's all real – don't you remember?”</p> <p>“I mean – if you're going to pretend to love me then I'd rather not do it...”</p> <p>“OK – I won't pretend to love you”</p> <p>“Do I tell you what to do now?”</p> <p>“If you want. I'm all ears.”</p> <p><i>Silence... “Why?”</i></p> <p>“Not quite there yet then. 'Why?' is not an instruction by the way. I'll let you read some more.”</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-63726725182015434852013-10-17T18:23:00.000+01:002013-10-17T18:35:33.678+01:002. Traffic Calming Part I – Donaldson & Stevens<p>“He was 'found dead' this morning at 08:15”</p> <p>“Who by?”</p> <p>“His heart monitoring software – it alerted the local hospital and a couple of medics were dispatched arriving at approximately 08:22; they confirmed that the heart had stopped.”</p> <p>“So was he resuscitated?”</p> <p>“Yes – sort of, there was a miss-understanding concerning the diagnosis which led to the victim being resuscitated and subsequently lost”</p> <p>“Go on...”</p> <p>“On arrival the medics found that the victim's pacemaker was malfunctioning and did not provide the boost required to restart his heart. In these cases pacemakers can normally be induced to restart the heart without any surgery; this procedure was carried out and the heart appeared to start momentarily, along with the victims breathing through ventilation”</p> <p>“Which didn't last long, I presume – I think I can see where this is going...”</p> <p>“Yes – it was short lived; as was a brief moment of consciousness for the victim”</p> <p>“Can we stop using the words 'the victim' it's taking too long – what was his name?”</p> <p>“Karl Bernahrdsson”</p> <p>“Interesting – go on, let's here the grand finale”</p> <p>“During consciousness the deceased... Karl Bernahrdsson...”</p> <p>“For god's sake...”</p> <p>“Attempted to communicate with the medics – he was recorded as saying, 'shot' whilst seemingly attempting to point to his chest”</p> <p>“Implying he thought he was shot?”</p> <p>“I don't know, sir”<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KEb-87lS8ko/UmAfyQIaP4I/AAAAAAAAKCs/IGQ_v7rEpuw/s1600-h/2004-10-15%252520006%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="2004-10-15 006" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="2004-10-15 006" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-hvA04dmHwfk/UmAfzY8goVI/AAAAAAAAKC0/ONiIeGcIZa8/2004-10-15%252520006_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="180"></a></p> <p>“You know I don't like that – Ow, my damn hand... why the hell is it hurting – that never happens”</p> <p>“What don't you like?”</p> <p>“That 'sir' business...”</p> <p>There was a long pause.</p> <p>“Well?”, Donaldson looked up from his sketch pad waiting for more...</p> <p>“You want me to go on?”</p> <p>“Well of course I do – do you think I'm just going to sit here and wait for the world to go by when you've just told me something needs to be fixed?”, no reaction, “Let's take a quick look at the video feed – I want to check the... flat, house whatever it is...”</p> <p>“A flat sir, in the Oakland Village”</p> <p>“What floor”, Donaldson span his chair round and pulled himself towards his work desk,</p> <p>“241”</p> <p>“Let's take a look; for a supposedly tech-free society they do like their gadgets... Yes – is this a glasses feed or an implant?”</p> <p>“I'd guess an 'bio-enhancement', sir, given the poor colour quality...”</p> <p>“It's clear as a bell apart from the colour – so, I've got his last moments right here – drinking coffee after coffee...”, Donaldon fast forwarded the video feed,</p> <p>“...he must have been dehydrated; ...or felt like he was... looking for something... remote control for the pacemaker perhaps – yep, bingo, there it is. Nope – not interested in that – different ideas? Hmmm – seems to be looking for... his watch?”</p> <p>“He's collapsing there...”</p> <p>“Yes – not sure he's thinking too much about calling someone...”</p> <p>“Maybe he thought his pacemaker would let somebody know”</p> <p>“Maybe – but I'm not sure it's a good idea to rely on it... look, there, he's gone for his computer pad now; watch not good enough for you, eh?”</p> <p>“I suppose not – what's he doing?”</p> <p>“A signal diagnostic...”</p> <p>The feed stopped; Donaldson slowly turned his chair in Stevens' direction. They smiled at each other. </p> <p>“I don't suppose you'd ever consider testing the intensity of signal noise as you were taking your last breaths, would you...”</p> <p>“Not sure sir, not yet taken my last breaths as far as I recall...”</p> <p>“Oh god... OK – drop the policeman façade, it was a crap idea anyway”</p> <p>“Thank god for that... it was annoying the hell out of me, sir...”</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GvtnQNp8nVQ/UmAf1NgvyVI/AAAAAAAAKC8/LcTOxS_6YPw/s1600-h/2004-10-15%252520009%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="2004-10-15 009" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="2004-10-15 009" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5_8r3zLgib4/UmAf2eq_mqI/AAAAAAAAKDE/LcyfRHEhHuc/2004-10-15%252520009_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="180"></a>“Very funny... Did anyone want him dead?”</p> <p>“Possibly – he led the review team for work processes at Oakland and Silversand; basically he attempted to find ways of reducing the manual labour” </p> <p>“So we have a list of those that prefer not to have their day to day lives reviewed from above?”</p> <p>“Unlikely that they were directly involved, sir.”</p> <p>“Yes – it seemed unlikely that they would kill somebody for that... I presume we're talking another round of over excited egos?”</p> <p>“Well, there's been increased access to the Oakland communications hub.”</p> <p>“Internal or external?”</p> <p>“Both actually, although most of the 'work' seems to have been carried out on the internal node”</p> <p>“Great. Is there enough power to injure somebody with the internal node wireless system?”</p> <p>“No – well, perhaps...”</p> <p>“'No, perhaps?' What sort of answer is that?”</p> <p>“Well they're trialling a new system at Oakland – similar to the systems we use on the external hubs”</p> <p>“Don't tell me they've boosted their power supply enough to cause someone's pacemaker to backfire? Open and shut case!”</p> <p>“Not exactly, sir, Oakland has, as you know, been developed as a place of tranquillity – something akin to being in the countryside; it has various flora and fauna planted throughout all it's floors – with the central atrium containing a sort of 'vertically planted forest' – if that makes sense to you?”</p> <p>“Not really – but what was the point”</p> <p>“It was considered that some occupants who resist the temptation to use technology in their day to day lives might want to live in a substantially electromagnetic wave free environment”</p> <p>“Yes – and so...?”</p> <p>“And so systems were developed to cancel out the electromagnetic radiation that was either man made or otherwise”</p> <p>“I hope they drew the line at sun-light?”</p> <p>“Yes, yes – of course it was targeted primarily at lower frequencies such as radio and microwave – but also there were attempts in the pipeline to calm x-ray and gamma ray frequencies as well.”</p> <p>“Sounds like a formidable idea – calm those frequencies down and we can all live quietly and happily until somebody accidentally fails to cancel and through some slip of the technology enhances those little old gamma rays...”</p> <p>“Yes – sorry about that sir”</p> <p>“Don't apologise it's not your fault is it?”</p> <p>“No sir.”</p> <p>“Oh god – back to the policeman impersonation. Go on...”</p> <p>“No X-ray or gamma ray cancellation has been attempted.”</p> <p>“Good – so at least we can cross off radioactive radiation as a cause of death”</p> <p>“Yes sir... but, not entirely, perhaps.”</p> <p>“Please do go on – you sound like you've found the solution already.”</p> <p>“I think I may have done – although I'm not sure what the course of action might be. The electromagnetic noise cancelling works much the same way as headphone noise cancelling products. The system listens for electromagnetic waves and, in order to 'calm' them an equal and opposite wave is created to cancel the original wave's effect. There are a number of problems to this compared with the rather simplistic sound cancelling solutions; number 1: the electromagnetic waves...”, Donaldson winced with the repetition,</p> <p>“..sorry sir – I'll refer to them as radio waves from now on – radio waves operate in many 'planes' and in some instances can even be 'twisted' if the transmitter is rotating, for instance. Each signal that is received, therefore, must be understood in amplitude as well as orientation and direction (as attempting to calm the frequency back towards the originating transmitter of a twisted signal will require a counter rotation or the calmer's transmission antenna).”</p> <p>“...is this level of detail required Stevens?”<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-g275zEWvRxo/UmAf30d9C6I/AAAAAAAAKDM/V7er2oEmFZA/s1600-h/2004-10-15%252520032%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="2004-10-15 032" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="2004-10-15 032" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xWfBe_7mPX0/UmAf4tuSlkI/AAAAAAAAKDU/y1ZXY5zIDOs/2004-10-15%252520032_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="180" height="240"></a></p> <p>“I think so sir; anyway, because the nature of calming has additional attributes to sound and is also intended to work within a multi-storey environment in '3D' the reception apparatus is complex as is the transmission apparatus. In addition any calculations required must be pretty much instantaneous as we are dealing with signals travelling at the speed of light.”</p> <p>“OK, so down to brass tacks as they say – does it work?”</p> <p>“Yes – mostly.”</p> <p>“Which bits don't work?” </p> <p>“Twisted or rotational signals are still not particularly well understood when they interfere with obstacles.”</p> <p>“That doesn't sound like an answer to me. If it doesn't work could it cause an injury?”</p> <p>“I think so.”</p> <p>“Under what circumstances”</p> <p>“Part of the systems' proposed requirements were to aid in the cancellation of radio 'hotspots' brought about by independently run electronic systems throughout the home, whilst still allowing through some wireless signals that were deemed 'required' for emergency systems. Hot spots were sometimes known to be created due to refraction and reflection of radio or micro waves around the building – much in the same way that light is reflected and refracted as it travels through water or glass, longer wavelengths such as microwave and radio waves are affected as they pass through walls and, say, people. Occasionally, completely separate signals would converge in a space and 'amplify' one another. In most unusual circumstances plastics were known to melt in some steel structured buildings that focused radio signals inappropriately.”</p> <p>“Frightening – please give me a list of the problem areas so that I can avoid them.”</p> <p>“There are none – nowadays sir, due to various building regulations and calming systems such as the new one at Oaklands. It uses an array of signal receivers and transmitters to ensure that wireless communications are sent to only where they are needed and are mostly cancelled out from those areas where they are not. The 'cancelling' is only in the Oakland facility, however, Silversand and Upton are still 'au naturale', if you will...”</p> <p>“OK – so what you're saying is that the radio calming system may have a) been tampered with to produce an attack on a member of the Oakland community or b) is failing to work correctly (possibly in the realm of 'rotational signals') and, perhaps, some interference from a pacemaker caused a 'pocket' of high energy that caused an accidental death?”</p> <p>“That sounds like a reasonable assessment sir”</p> <p>“OK, good... that sounds like we have a case to work with... I'll monitor it.”</p> <p>“Good – thank you sir.”</p> <p>“Anything else?”</p> <p>“No – that's all for the moment.”</p> <p>“I'll call you.”</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-35516304393883658892013-10-13T23:16:00.000+01:002013-10-17T18:39:52.094+01:001. A Wide Open Space (We’ve Started)…“It's like being used over and over again to do the same thing... I hate it.”<br />
“How long has it been going on for?”<br />
“About ten or fifteen years, depending on how you think about it.”<br />
“And how do you think about it?”<br />
“I try not to – if I do it feels like my life is just an excuse to waste time.”<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-w5LicB9kjJk/UlsgaMt25BI/AAAAAAAAKBE/CymmCncFBTY/s1600-h/DSC027335.jpg"><img align="left" alt="DSC02733" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-M5itfNG7yzw/UlsgbLlf4TI/AAAAAAAAKBM/QZb1dGHGJac/DSC02733_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 9px 12px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="DSC02733" width="240" /></a><br />
He stopped for a moment, took a cigarette from the pack on the table and started searching for a light.<br />
“Have you got a light?”<br />
She smiled: “I thought you were going to ask me something else...”<br />
“I can do – just as soon as I light this cigarette”, she threw him her lighter; he took a glance at it before quickly lifting it to light up. <br />
“Starfish – I like it... on a beach, I presume.”<br />
“I don't know – it just seemed to make me happy when I saw it”<br />
“Is there much happiness in your life?”<br />
“That's what I thought you were going to ask me; before, I mean...”<br />
Isaac placed the lighter onto the table in front of them, equidistantly between their two cups of coffee, starfish side up:<br />
“So you're intelligent; you can quickly see the rules of life and see what might happen next”<br />
“It's not interesting though”<br />
“Perhaps, Serena, the interest comes from understanding what to do with the talent”<br />
“I only ever think of bad things to do – I get angry with people...”<br />
“The situation...”<br />
“What?”<br />
“It's better to get annoyed – or angry as you put it – with the situation, rather than with a person or persons.”, he turned the lighter over hiding the image.<br />
“What difference does it make?”<br />
“It makes a big difference – it can be the difference between doing something useful with your talent and getting annoyed with everybody and yourself. Try it... if you like.”<br />
“OK – I might do... once I get 'annoyed' I find myself less likely to 'help'.”<br />
He paused and looked at her, trying to gauge whether she was still thinking – she was <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XvBt8rUfOv8/UlsgcAMBPlI/AAAAAAAAKBU/7l2Ed_LKIFw/s1600-h/DSC027384.jpg"><img align="right" alt="DSC02738" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-s4Fjw7OVktA/UlsgcggLFxI/AAAAAAAAKBc/ORDQTPk1zFE/DSC02738_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 11px 0px 0px 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="DSC02738" width="240" /></a>looking down at her hands. The odd car drifted by, another drag on the cigarette and he drank some of the cold black coffee that had been untouched on the table for about 10 minutes. He winced:<br />
“I don't know why I drink coffee – I'm not convinced I actually like it.”<br />
“You're just the same, aren't you...”, not a question – more of a statement, a gradual realisation, “you're trapped too – aren't you?”<br />
“If you mean I'm trapped by my romantic 1950's Hollywood vision of the world and that I believe that at moments like these I should smoke a cigarette and drink black coffee whilst I talk to my beautiful ex-girlfriend then, yes, I'm trapped... I drink coffee because I think it fits the part I'm playing.”<br />
“Why do you play it if you don't like it?”<br />
“It's not that much of a hardship to drink black coffee, smoke too many cigarettes and spend some time with the only girl I ever loved...”<br />
“Stop!”<br />
“I'm afraid you can't switch me off – that bit of my life was real – I did love you. It's the rest of it that seems a bit mad... otherwise I'm just hanging around waiting for the rest of my consciousness to return.”<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MQlf2HLDRKY/UlsgdXacwMI/AAAAAAAAKBk/90NVvnUUuhI/s1600-h/DSC027374.jpg"><img align="left" alt="DSC02737" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-N4sJylasQMA/Ulsgdz0At5I/AAAAAAAAKBo/icjnCqcw9MM/DSC02737_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="DSC02737" width="160" /></a>“Sorry – I didn't mean to do that. I mean, I didn't mean to say 'stop'.”<br />
“It's OK, no harm done. I'm in a wide open space...”<br />
She smiled – and shook a little with a suggestion of laughter; by way of explanation:<br />
“Just a song I used to like – in fact I still like it... reminds me of long drives...”<br />
“Sounds good. So how does life feel now?”<br />
“OK. Thanks. I know you've helped – although I'm not quite sure how.”<br />
“Nor am I. It might be that I haven't.”<br />
“Well thanks anyway. Thanks for your time.”<br />
He stood and stretched, arching his back: “It's always my pleasure. ...and if you feel the urge to 'put out' as our American cousins would put it – do get in touch.”<br />
“You're starting to sound like a film now. I don't like it...”<br />
“Too late. You're stuck with it – we've started.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-83212057557412434912013-05-13T13:52:00.000+01:002013-05-13T13:54:49.764+01:00Group by Months/Weeks<p>Beautiful bit of code for counting valid fields and grouping the results in month/week chunks – simply replace the %%INTERVAL%% with either WEEK or MONTH (or any other valid DATEADD identifier, for that matter) and specify the table and %%DateField%% you are interested in:</p><pre class="csharpcode"> ;<span class="kwrd">WITH</span> d(d) <span class="kwrd">AS</span> <br /> (<br /> <span class="kwrd">SELECT</span> DATEADD(%%<span class="kwrd">INTERVAL</span>%%, n, DATEADD(%%<span class="kwrd">INTERVAL</span>%%, <br> DATEDIFF(%%<span class="kwrd">INTERVAL</span>%%, 0, @minDate), 0))<br /> <span class="kwrd">FROM</span> ( <span class="kwrd">SELECT</span> <span class="kwrd">TOP</span> (DATEDIFF(%%<span class="kwrd">INTERVAL</span>%%, @minDate, @maxDate) + 1) <br /> n = ROW_NUMBER() <span class="kwrd">OVER</span> (<span class="kwrd">ORDER</span> <span class="kwrd">BY</span> [object_id]) - 1<br /> <span class="kwrd">FROM</span> sys.all_objects <span class="kwrd">ORDER</span> <span class="kwrd">BY</span> [object_id] ) <span class="kwrd">AS</span> n<br /> )<br /> <span class="kwrd">SELECT</span> <br /> --<span class="kwrd">COALESCE</span>(op.Id, @ID) <span class="kwrd">AS</span> ID,<br /> d.d <span class="kwrd">AS</span> <span class="kwrd">Date</span>,<br /> <span class="kwrd">count</span>(op.%%DateField%%) <span class="kwrd">AS</span> CountOfItems<br /> <span class="kwrd">FROM</span> <br /> d <span class="kwrd">LEFT</span> <span class="kwrd">OUTER</span> <span class="kwrd">JOIN</span><br /> (<span class="kwrd">select</span> * <span class="kwrd">FROM</span> Ops o <span class="kwrd">WHERE</span> <br> o.Operation_Project = @Project_ID <span class="kwrd">or</span> @Project_ID = 1) op <br> <span class="kwrd">ON</span> op.%%DateField%% >= d.d <span class="kwrd">AND</span> <br> op.%%DateField%% < DATEADD(%%<span class="kwrd">INTERVAL</span>%%, 1, d.d) <br /> <span class="kwrd">GROUP</span> <span class="kwrd">BY</span> <br /> --op.Operation_Project, <br /> d.d <br /> <span class="kwrd">HAVING</span> <br /> d.d < (<span class="kwrd">SELECT</span> <span class="kwrd">MAX</span>(o.%%DateField%%) <span class="kwrd">FROM</span> Ops o <br> <span class="kwrd">WHERE</span> o.Id = @Project_ID <span class="kwrd">or</span> @Project_ID = 1)<br /> <span class="kwrd">ORDER</span> <span class="kwrd">BY</span> <br /> d.d<br /></pre><br /><style type="text/css">.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre<br />{<br /> font-size: small;<br /> color: black;<br /> font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace;<br /> background-color: #ffffff;<br /> /*white-space: pre;*/<br />}<br />.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }<br />.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }<br />.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }<br />.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }<br />.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }<br />.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }<br />.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }<br />.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }<br />.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }<br />.csharpcode .alt <br />{<br /> background-color: #f4f4f4;<br /> width: 100%;<br /> margin: 0em;<br />}<br />.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }<br /></style> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-53840075337231676002012-11-20T22:17:00.000+00:002012-11-20T23:44:49.083+00:00Squiddling Around Salisbury<p>Squiddling around Salisbury tomorrow I found that I had missed something quite astonishing about the town in the subsequent 15 visits over the next so-many-years.</p> <p>It’s an easy thought to conjure – but when I looked about at my life, in those years to come, I<img style="float: right; margin: 8px 0px 8px 24px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/38/94/c3/the-4-statues-of-ramses.jpg" width="298" height="198"> couldn’t help but think: ‘Goodness gracious me – where is the Lotus garage that once I held in such high esteem?’</p> <p>Clearly, it’s still there – but, I find, it remains far less interesting than it ever used to be. Not too dissimilar to the rest of my life – a problem I have been battling with since my return from India; an endless chain of tainted love, boredom and waiting.</p> <p>I wonder, then, lonely as a luxo lamp, that jumps on high and squashes small colourful balls at the start of films. Or was it Luxor – a distant land somehow reminiscent of Egypt's greatest Kings and Queens – or, perhaps, gamblers? …as I was <a title="Luxor Hotel" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Igreja_de_Campanha_Azulejo_4.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin: 19px 16px 6px 0px; display: inline" align="left" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Luxor_casino_and_hotel-20070722.jpg/800px-Luxor_casino_and_hotel-20070722.jpg" width="402" height="176"></a>saying: I wonder, not wander, WONDER at the sheer size of the world these days – not that geographically it’s extended itself that much – but, more importantly, how small it has got; I mean, I can write this unfeasibly meaningless pseudo-article and some idiot makes the electricity to transmit it with the assumption that it might just be as important as a piece of news; what’s more, I look out from the computer screen and wonder why you are actually reading it… Hmmmmmm…<a title="A general pattern of life - in this case kitchen tiling..." href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Igreja_de_Campanha_Azulejo_4.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="float: right; margin: 15px 0px 0px 24px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Igreja_de_Campanha_Azulejo_4.jpg" width="152" height="114"></a></p> <p>Have you truly not got anything better to do with your life than consume other people’s writings? Perhaps it is time to start again and leave the house, leave the phone where it is, visit a neighbour/friend/associate and talk about doing something different – something you have yet to do; something that is outside the general pattern of your life – avoid the news, avoid the TV, avoid the settee… </p> <p>Or: you could go to the pub. I hear it’s quite nice there. </p> <p>Here – something new – a new word:</p> <p><strong>bliesfelt</strong> [ˈblys-felt] <i>Brit</i> <i>Slang</i> <p><i>adj</i> <p><b>1.</b> weary; tired out <p><b>2.</b> weary of food; overly full, esp after an interview and too much pasta the previous night <p>This is how I will be <em>mostly </em>feeling tomorrow. See if you can remember it and use it… If you can’t what went wrong with your brain?</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-72287177083179804262012-10-27T02:41:00.000+01:002012-10-28T01:00:25.009+00:00Windows 8 and The Beach<p>OK, let’s get one thing straight from the off – I am not referring to ‘The Beach’, the well known book-to-film creation by Alex Garland. Incidentally, it was directed by Danny Boyle, the same guy that designed the opening to the London Olympic games – just after completing a film where someone gnaws their arm off in disappointment. I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before.</p> <p>Anyway, not <em>that</em> beach. But I digress, you’re far more interested in the whole Windows 8 thing, eh? Aren’t you? I mean that’s what you searched for when you got here, right? Good – then I’ll begin:</p> <p>It’s installed. I partitioned away a little side alley of hard disk space to allow me to start up in <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-i9SYH_OOnHU/UIyDh_Y8XmI/AAAAAAAAJ3Y/7kubQIQFhAM/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-g1aBt5ewjlc/UIyDjKs1S_I/AAAAAAAAJ3c/tDqb8Ve8HIg/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="325" height="203" /></a>Windows 7 or Windows 8 – a neat little trick which gives me a fancy blue menu with icons (none of this text based rubbish we’ve been used to in the past). Nothing particularly clever required – simply bought Windows 8 online, downloaded it, burned it to a CD (all of which it did without me having to intervene – Windows 7 will burn DVDs; although, I was told that Windows XP and Vista may require additional ISO to DVD burning software for this bit). </p> <p>Once burned a reboot caused my PC to start from the DVD and after about half an hour I had a dual boot hard disk with Windows 8 unable to connect to the internet. Obviously, had I not bothered to create this state of dualistic preposterousness, the upgrade of my existing Windows 7 would have been a breeze and my network connection intact. </p> <p>So, having got over feeling somewhat <a title="Definition of preposterated at the urban dictionary" href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Preposterated" target="_blank">preposterated</a>, I thought I’d try using the thing <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-34jEAdOwMTM/UIyDk7PeuRI/AAAAAAAAJ3o/SB1eYMVS7Pc/s1600-h/image%25255B7%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 10px 11px 5px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mVELWomK3EY/UIyDl1v1rHI/AAAAAAAAJ3w/_fZJeSPGkEg/image_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="319" height="181" /></a>(Windows 8 that is). First things first, I connected my Windows login to a Hotmail account which made everything fantastic – I won’t tell you why, I just wrote it down and it was the most tedious sentence I have ever written – so find out for yourself. </p> <p>I’m playing music, writing software, writing a blog post, browsing Wiki (honestly, I actually ended up reading about Azure Damsel Flies and then the colour Azure blue – the page was so enticingly rendered before me); Skype’s running in the background and from time to time I have asked Google (with my microphone) to search for ‘Penn Treebank tags’. The latter was a pain in the backside – and not just because of my seated position, but, more importantly, because I had to put on an American accent for it to understand me properly. </p> <p>A fantastic old book ‘<a title="Amazon.co.uk link to I Seem To Be A Verb" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Seem-To-Be-Verb/dp/B003OIE8XK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351380611&sr=8-1" target="_blank">I Seem To Be A Verb</a>’ caught my eye during my web travels within Windows 8. I tried to search for more information with Google – but Google insisted I was looking for a book called ‘I seem to be a…’: ‘phone’, ‘fun’, ‘above’, ‘B of A’, ‘availab’ or a myriad of other quite reasonably abstract things (given the content of <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-W78Mh4KJcss/UIyDnd_6y-I/AAAAAAAAJ34/2cdW1YIR8mc/s1600-h/image%25255B18%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 13px 0px 5px 16px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-W0pC-6WoS2Y/UIyDoaSY7kI/AAAAAAAAJ4A/4S2U5F6mri8/image_thumb%25255B8%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="384" height="218" /></a>the book). Apparently, it’s going around that ‘I seem to be an idiot for not typing the request in the first place’. Which, I have to say, I tend to agree with. </p> <p>It’s by this chap who seemed to be interested in ‘<a title="Imprint - design website with images of the 1970's book itself - as well as my first-school climbing frame, or something similar..." href="http://imprint.printmag.com/uncategorized/bucky-fuller-book-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bucky-fuller-book-design" target="_blank">the sustainable planet</a>’ long before it caught on – if you can’t be bothered to do anything else go to Amazon and request it on Kindle – just to annoy them, who knows, they may do it. Remember, if every trim-tab does it the Queen Mary will change direction – or something like that; although I think it’s just <a title="Who knows, it may work..." href="http://12degreesoffreedom.org/trimtabprinciple.html" target="_blank">wishful thinking</a>. </p> <p>Anyway – Windows 8, seems pretty good; and this whole ‘mobile technology’ thing that they have going on with their apps is saving memory and processor time something extraordinary (when apps are not <a title="Thank heavens they cleared that up..." href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/27/paul-mccartney-yoko-ono-beatles-david-frost?newsfeed=true" target="_blank"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 15px 11px 6px 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-k-FSCZUndCA/UIyDprq30hI/AAAAAAAAJ4I/3r7l5AMJv1E/image%25255B14%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="324" height="184" /></a>directly in use they pretty much drop down to no CPU usage – so, I guess I’ll use less electricity and I won’t memory-fault – or something) – it’s also seemingly much easier to understand what’s going on without having to resize windows (everything is full screen by default). </p> <p>Right – must get on as ‘<a title="Youtube - Anouk, Time Is A Jailer" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYT_alCePs" target="_blank">Time is a Jailer</a>’ and with the music on this loud the ‘<a title="Youtube - The Members, Sound of the Suburbs" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc6hbiNVfbw" target="_blank">Sound of the Suburbs</a>’ will be disturbed despite my double glazing (‘<a title="Youtube - Alanis Morissette, Right Through You" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmZlDw-8J1E" target="_blank">Right Through You</a>’). Finally, in Total Contrast to all that: ‘<a title="Youtube: Total Contrast - Takes a Little Time" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=bv-MpTOS9Vg" target="_blank">Takes a little time to get it right, Don’t you believe in love at first sight…</a>’; reminds me of a weird pub in Oslo – or does it?  And on that note…</p> <p>I’ll be utterly <a title="Definition of bedgasmed at the urban dictionary" href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bedgasm" target="_blank">bedgasmed</a> in just a few minutes – and no, that has nothing to do with living in Essex – thank goodness; oh and damn, I was planning to go to the beach today and stand on a groin... Maybe next week.</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-28705920607231616632012-02-12T00:04:00.000+00:002012-02-12T00:18:27.152+00:00Something About You<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UozHst-Jhns/TzcEAsagFfI/AAAAAAAAJi8/rPwiuBYXs4E/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="419" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qpUZLRPXKI0/TzcEBm-VcTI/AAAAAAAAJjE/w85lqSTqLts/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="189" /></a>As I sit 'virtually' thumbing through the albums of my past on YouTube.com I find myself following an interesting pattern – those tunes made all too familiar to me by way of 6<sup>th</sup> form 'ghetto blasters' of my past are now strewn across you-tube by uploaders all over the world – and I can't help but mentally revisit almost every 6<sup>th</sup> form party I ever attended through the memory of these songs.<br />
<br />
<div class="western">
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing – but as I rejoice in the happiness of my past, looking through the wondrous annals of 1980's pop: Level 42, Erasure, Bronski Beat, Visage, Ultravox and, dare I say it, Curiosity Killed the Cat; I find my inner technologist briefly considering how all these pop videos have become 'related' on You-Tube.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
The videos are linked because of the order in which other users have played them – caused by recollections of similar experiences to mine; which is a comforting thought as I pass into my 42<sup>nd</sup> year – there <i><b>are</b></i> other sad idiots like myself wasting time on a Saturday night having only just recovered from a massive 3 pints of Grolsch (such is the heavy-weight I am in the world of championship drinking) from the previous night (OK – there may have been a few glasses of wine too).<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
This may all be interesting enough to some (I doubt it), but then it occurred to me, on the upside, that there must, equally, be numerous people out there that have happily thrown a party and gathered their favourite 80's pop to play on a full screen projector and rejoiced en masse at songs that had more to say than your standard Danish/Norwegian pop band of the 1990's: I think, primarily, of 'Barbie Girl' which seems nowadays to have more in common with CBeebies <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF5t_tXln9o" target="_blank" title="Lazy Town/Barbie Girl 'Mashup' - what a horrible idea"><u>'Lazy Town'</u></a> – yes we took the format and saw that it was fit for pre-school children audiences only; let’s face it, it’s Sawadee Krahp! Thankfully, I hear it’s becoming common knowledge that, if you speed date, “Did you buy 'I'm a Barbie Girl'” is a good time saving question to ask if you don't like the look of someone...<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
Anyway, I digress, which isn’t unusual for me, so back to the 80’s: as I thought more and more about those happy days of teenage pop bliss, cycling from party to party with my cheap Sony imitation personal tape player, with handlebar clutched in one hand and a small bottle of Captain Morgan clutched in the other, I started to imagine all those less than happy people ‘Fading to Grey’ as they were drunkenly propped up against a luxury flat wall, vodka bottle in one hand life in the other, pouring their heart out about how unhappy their lives are now they find themselves in the ‘future’ and no longer in the happy heady days of 1980’s innocence…<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="western">
Ahh well, sod ‘em – at least I know why the videos are related… </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-34900130093581607192011-05-08T09:52:00.001+01:002013-07-04T14:41:18.697+01:00Oompa Loompas, Royal Weddings and Coca-ColaIt seems to have been an age since I last updated this blog; mainly because there wasn’t that much to say (not unusual, life sometimes throws these long repetitive streaks at you, during which the most interesting thing is that the spider that is oft seen crawling eastwards across the floor decides to crawl in another direction; incidentally: if you are really stuck for something to do you can catch that spider and make it crawl Westwards using a thin piece of thread – if you feel so inclined – but you would, indeed, have to be extra-ordinarily sadistic and bored to the point of brain death). <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TcZZx-cegRI/AAAAAAAAJeY/dqDNNzZESOU/s1600-h/Photo%200091%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="Photo 0091" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TcZZyFjKRBI/AAAAAAAAJec/LtddAWgl8jw/Photo%200091_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 14px 19px 2px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Photo 0091" width="180" /></a><br />
So: many months through the work, home, beer, TV cigarettes and peanuts routine, I ventured out onto the London Underground (that’s a capital ‘U’ there as it seems, now, to be a ‘brand’ – with T-shirts, mugs and maps – lots of maps) and I ran into some Oompa Loompas, as one would prior to coming home to write about it. Picture embedded.<br />
I also notice that there’s been a Royal Wedding (I presume with a capital R & W, although not because of it’s capitalist tendencies… although???). Yes, sitting peacefully on my own throne reading the paper it appears I missed ‘the moment of the century’ – something I was quite shocked about. When did it happen??? Aaaah – I slept through it, I hope it held as much promise and joi-de-vivre as the last one – if not more…<br />
Anyway – this brought me on to the next weird episode, something I had completely forgotten about; something to do with some terrorist – anyway, apparently he’s been caught or shot; not sure which; but it turned out that the president of America is very happy; no, relieved (I think is the official line).<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TcZZyt7LNuI/AAAAAAAAJeg/lGy2FWDJPys/s1600-h/Photo%200104%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="Photo 0104" border="0" height="180" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TcZZzLs_A6I/AAAAAAAAJek/bzZG2GKYKno/Photo%200104_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: right; margin: 9px 0px 8px 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Photo 0104" width="240" /></a><br />
Lastly, I’ve found a new place to live – a little sad as the old place (this place) is still great – but the new place is nearer to the things I love the most. Food and beer, mainly. Which can make an awfully big impact on one’s belly. SO I had better be careful and get fit – it had to happen sooner or later; I would have preferred later.<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
So, all in all, a good week – except for those Oompa Loompas, where were they going? Why was there only one female and, more to the point, since when has there been female Oompa Loompas anyway, at the last incarnation of them they were all clones of the one Oompa (and had a very unstable relationship with the world of pop music) – which all seemed rather surreal; I presume the underlying message behind the latest ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ ‘Drugs – just say no!’, which I sort of remember from my days playing arcade machines in the late 1980′s. Astonishingly, though, Coca-cola (despite the rumours one way and the other) does still contain ingredients from the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca" rel="wikipedia" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Coca">Coca plant</a> (albeit, I stress, a cocaine-free ingredient). Don’t believe me? Well here’s the extract from the Wikipedia entry:<a href="http://tomperren.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/photo-0097.jpg" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img align="left" alt="Photo 0097" border="0" height="240" src="http://tomperren.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/photo-0097_thumb.jpg?w=180&h=240" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 20px 15px 8px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" title="Photo 0097" width="180" /></a></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant,[34] which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Verdana, 'BitStream vera Sans', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Cocaine itself was dropped from the secret formulae back in 1900 according to this article: ‘<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/19/20040419-093635-4754r/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Coca Kick in drinks spurs export fears">Coca Kick in drinks spurs export fears</a>‘. Amazing! Well – on a different topic, my photograph of the Oompas leaves a lot to be desired, I’m obviously not quite at the paparazzi level; but that’s a different story. Instead to finish with here’s some recently married Esso people – they’re living very happily together in a shop window not far from here. I missed their wedding too.</div>
Well – thankfully, my photograph of the Oompas leaves a lot to be desired, I’m obviously not quite at the paparazzi level; but that’s a different story. Instead to finish with here’s some recently married Esso people – they’re living very happily together in a shop window not far from here. I missed their wedding too.<br />
Oh – incidentally, the piano graveyard picture really has nothing to do with this post – but as I didn’t get off my arse to take the picture of the spider running across the carpet recently I thought I’d add my favourite picture of the moment. Who knows, this may become a running feature. But probably not.<br />
<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e9977af6-7085-443f-adfa-2e3c969be85e" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Coca-cola" rel="tag">Coca-cola</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Oompa-loompa" rel="tag">Oompa-loompa</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/London+Undeground" rel="tag">London Undeground</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Esso" rel="tag">Esso</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-66532724954063534552011-03-20T11:39:00.001+00:002011-03-20T11:43:37.967+00:00Loading an assembly from a specific directory (i.e. when not in GAC)<p><a href="http://tomperren.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/c.gif"><img style="display: inline; float: left" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-272" title="C#" alt="C# Post Header" align="left" src="http://tomperren.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/c.gif?w=150" width="90" height="72"></a>Just like dynamically loading DLLs with C# - at last!</p> <p><em>You do not have to put an assembly that an application must use at runtime in the bin folder of the application. You can put the assembly in any folder on the system, and then you can refer to the assembly at runtime.</em></p> <p>My preference - which requires no configuration during installation - is to use method 3; just find your current executable's folder and calculate a relative path from there - ensuring that, even when the app is copied using a standard file copy, it still works on the new server (shedding any deployment requirements with regard to this). See here:</p> <p><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837908" target="_blank">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837908</a></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-18582579699935491112011-02-26T11:25:00.000+00:002011-04-02T11:25:58.460+01:00Flowers for Algernon<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1857989384" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=aseptchil-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1857989384&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe> <br />
‘Charlie Gordon is a floor sweeper’, so the jacket blurb describes. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This is not in the same ball park as those standard 'space based' Sci-Fis akin to Star Trek</span>. This could well be considered a psychological insight into the ever changing human state.<br />
In this tale we follow the fortunes of Charlie who, at the outset, is ‘blessed’ with an IQ of 68, well below normal. There’s little to distinguish him from anyone else other than his inability to understand anything more than the ‘here and now’ – and with those around him either despairing at his ignorance or taking advantage of his simple nature there seems to be no real chance for progress.<br />
That is, until he is confronted with the option to be ‘made’ intelligent through a surgical procedure. Without hesitation he takes the option with the assumption it will improve him, such is the engrained belief that everyone else knows best.<br />
Over time he surpasses all around him, including those that performed the experimental procedure. He finds himself able to comprehend so much and yet, at the same time feels completely isolated from all – far more so than when he was a simple floor sweeper who was the butt of all jokes.<br />
This book is not an easy read for the personification of the language itself – at the start this ‘diary’ monologue is that of a man with an IQ of 68. However, as the language improves so does Charlie’s understanding of his situation – and with hindsight he is conflicted by feelings of animosity to those around him for taking advantage of such an innocent; the former him.<br />
Extra-ordinarily architected, this story shows the shifting of a human psyche from a constant to a growing, changing, learning individual who, once capable of objective and abstract thought, is from time to time offended by the routes used to get there. The conflict creates dead ends of thought to be avoided and quickly, as described in the text, the protagonist understands that to be productive, one must be happy. <br />
In numerous ways this book illustrates humanity, from the the ‘birth’ of the new consciousness to the ‘nursing homes’ visited towards the end, and all the confusion of love, sex and work between the two. <br />
In short – fantastic. I thoroughly recommend this book – but don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself! ;)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-75455139665605550542011-01-18T22:11:00.003+00:002011-01-18T22:22:25.038+00:00The Stars My Destination<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stars-My-Destination-S-F-Masterworks/dp/1857988140?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Stars My Destination (S.F. Masterworks)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1857988140&tag=aseptchil-20" /></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #663300; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stars-My-Destination-S-F-Masterworks/dp/1857988140?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Stars My Destination (S.F. Masterworks)</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #663300; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial !important; border-width: initial !important;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1857988140" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span><br />
<div class="stacked" id="bookAuthors" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="by smallText" style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">by</span> <a class="authorName" href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10992.Alfred_Bester" style="color: #663300; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none;">Alfred Bester</a></div><div class="stacked" id="bookAuthors" style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px;">My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223153.The_Stars_My_Destination">5 out of 5 Stars</a></div>Brilliant. Took me a fair while to get into - it seemed fairly disjointed for the first half of the book, but that may have been due to the sporadic nature of my reading at the start of this month (January - just back at work). Second Part of the book accelerated and, like an urgent message from an anti-hero on speed, made it's impact. I liked it.<br />
<br />
Written in the 1950's '<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stars-My-Destination-S-F-Masterworks/dp/1857988140?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Stars My Destination</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #663300; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 24px;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1857988140" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-width: initial !important; cursor: move; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span>', despite sounding like a rather crap self help group, seems to be bang up to date even today. The only minor criticism that could be brought against it is that 'some' of the science seems fairly vague; this downfall, however, is more than made up for by the extra-ordinary imagination that drove the creation of the more 'believe and they will come' based ideas. <br />
<br />
In Gully Foyle's time: The world is a very different place with humans empowered, not just by knowledge, but by new physical abilities which (given their non-prejudiced distribution among the masses) have caused society to tear itself apart. This may now be all in the past - but such patterns have a tendency to repeat. <br />
On a lighter note: Bester started writing this book in the UK and hence many of the names are based on English place names, book shops or a rather large holiday maker - so the locals said...<br />
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Go read it!<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1857988140" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> Fancy buying it? Here's a link to Amazon and the book itself series: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stars-My-Destination-S-F-Masterworks/dp/1857988140?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Stars My Destination (S.F. Masterworks)</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1857988140" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-73576316455983874812010-12-31T12:17:00.003+00:002011-01-18T22:19:56.206+00:00Ender in Exile<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ender-in-Exile-ebook/dp/B001ANUQ0K?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969"><img align="left" alt="Ender in Exile" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001ANUQ0K&tag=aseptchil-20" style="display: inline; float: left;" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ender-Exile-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0765344157?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Ender in Exile</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/589.Orson_Scott_Card">Orson Scott Card</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/137474092">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/137474092"></a><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765344157" width="1" /><br />
Got the thing from a lovely second hand book shop in Brixton, turn left when you get out of the tube and second left - it's down that road on the right. Being second hand (cheap) and a reminder of the first book in the series I read when I was sixteen, this one is a pleasure to read. A bit like a holiday to times past...<br />
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The plot of the original book is far too fantastical to try to summarise; I've noticed that much from reading the odd review of '<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Book-1/dp/0812550706?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Ender's Game</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0812550706" width="1" />' before - they tend to leave me with that feeling, 'Bloody Sci-Fi nutters - they'll read anything'; the characters are reasonably well 'explored', so there's enough there to empathise with (to use reviewers parlance), the sci-fi ideas (i.e. future technology) give the author plenty of scope to get his characters from one side of the galaxy to the other without breaking into a sweat (which ultimately lead you to consider faster than light travel and transportation via de-materialisation and re-materialisation). It's all good fun.<br />
<br />
So, in short, we're talking about a series of books about a child who is psychologically messed with to produce a human being who is capable of mass murder on a planetary scale and, as a consequence, able to save lives on the same scale. An intelligent monster who is entirely human and so equally adept at creating harmony out of the chaos he may well have caused (or, at least, was held responsible for) in the first place.<br />
<br />
So: I like it. Although it's only a bit of fun. The characters' interactions are far more interesting than the storyline itself - which makes me wonder why I'm reading sci-fi AGAIN!<br />
<br />
Fancy buying it? Here's a link to Amazon and the Ender series: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ender-Quartet-Box-Set-Xenocide/dp/0765362430?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=aseptchil-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765362430" width="1" />.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-2193955662386123522010-10-24T17:53:00.001+01:002010-10-24T17:53:16.350+01:00Tom’s Latin American Vacation (Part 3): Uruguay – or how to break a bunk bed<p>It was somewhere betwixt Christmas and New Years when I met her. The stripy dress was the thing that caught my eye, I was curious enough to see the face of whomsoever would go out in such an outrageously stripy outfit. Without really thinking, I semi-drunkardly wandered around to the front with as much panache as a car salesman checking out the front of a car to see what it looked like. I got to the front-end and, well, not a bad frontage it was too. She smiled at me – and I introduced myself. Once the introductions were over I paused and said, “I have to go – lovely to meet you.”</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMRkcIoG0XI/AAAAAAAAJcs/oW8DNkPRSTE/s1600-h/0001%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="0001" border="0" alt="0001" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMRkdI570WI/AAAAAAAAJcw/Ca0dsXCIAuY/0001_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="180"></a> I walked out onto the street (still in Buenos Aires at this stage) to get some fresh air and within a few minutes the rest of the crowd (that I was with) decided to move on to the next club. She appeared and commented on the fact that I had not yet left – I took this in a positive way, as only I can. The night went on and I found myself in a taxi with her cousin and another girl on the way back to the hostel being propositioned by the taxi driver (via their translation) to a night in the seedier districts of Buenos Aires (an odd story, one I still don’t understand myself). This must have sparked their interest as a couple of days later they had invited me to Uruguay to celebrate New Years – which, of course, I did.</p> <p>Uruguay (well, certainly the capital: Montevideo) is fantastic, the place is full of beautiful and decrepit old buildings (just waiting for someone with money to restore them), cars that look like they’ve been transported in time from the 1940’s and a whole host of characters who seem to spend all day playing and betting on street chess games. This isn’t a bad place to have a think about things.</p> <p>The hostel we stayed in, <a title="Che Lagarto at hostels.com" href="http://www.hostels.com/hostels/montevideo/che-lagarto-hostel-montevideo-uruguay/18219" target="_blank">Che Lagarto</a>, was right next door to the ‘old district’ towards the sea side of town and only cost about 10 pounds a night. It was in a beautiful building – with interiors still being repainted and refrub’d whilst we stayed. The place was gorgeous – as was the company, of course. There was a celebratory city wide water fight a day or two before New Years, which ended up being more a city wide cheap fizzy wine fight – and I resisted the temptation to drink whatever was fired my way, despite what you might think. During the mayhem nearly everybody involved (those hanging from balconies, those running down the street brandishing bottles or water pistols) got hair-singe-ingly sun burnt and sticky. Returning to the hostel was painful for some, with backs reddened as well as cheeks, quite possibly for more than one reason (I’ll let your imagination take that one).<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMRkdwB9GKI/AAAAAAAAJc0/PTCuAGQ51Nk/s1600-h/01%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 10px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="01" border="0" alt="01" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMRke8d6B8I/AAAAAAAAJc4/SVoOUTIwPbw/01_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="178"></a> </p> <p>The New Year’s party that ensued has been made infamous by the breaking of a bunk bed – the exact details of which I will leave out – but needless to say it involved two persons, one of whom was male, the other of whom was female. They deny any wrong-doing, but we couldn’t help take the mickey out of them anyway. That’ll learn ‘em.</p> <p>Meanwhile I was passing out in the hallway and being talked at by the stripy-dress woman – a good job too, hic. There was a fleeting moment when I thought I understood everything everybody was saying and then I realised I was drunk – thankfully, though, I realised I was empathic – which led to my hostess for the evening declaring me to be a woman. Just great – and she was my only opportunity for the night. Never mind, hopefully she’ll come round at some stage and realise I’m a man after all...</p> <p>So the evening drew to a close and the festivities faded from our memories as hang-overs began to kick in by about 5am. I clambered into my bed at some hour – god knows when - and realised that Christmas may have been a downer, but New Years was most certainly not. I think I may still be recovering from it.</p> <p>P.S. The mysterious ‘Stripy Dress Woman’ in photo above – showing off her tan, I like a woman who isn’t shy.</p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:0ff87a5c-72c9-4fae-ad66-27720e0662a7" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">LiveJournal Tags: <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Latin+American" rel="tag">Latin American</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Uruguay" rel="tag">Uruguay</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=bunk+bed" rel="tag">bunk bed</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Christmas" rel="tag">Christmas</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=panache" rel="tag">panache</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=frontage" rel="tag">frontage</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Buenos+Aires" rel="tag">Buenos Aires</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=taxi" rel="tag">taxi</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=translation" rel="tag">translation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=capital" rel="tag">capital</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Montevideo" rel="tag">Montevideo</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Che+Lagarto" rel="tag">Che Lagarto</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=temptation" rel="tag">temptation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=mayhem" rel="tag">mayhem</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=imagination" rel="tag">imagination</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=female" rel="tag">female</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=festivities" rel="tag">festivities</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=downer" rel="tag">downer</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Stripy" rel="tag">Stripy</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=photo" rel="tag">photo</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=introductions" rel="tag">introductions</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=balconies" rel="tag">balconies</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=pistols" rel="tag">pistols</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=cheap+fizzy+wine" rel="tag">cheap fizzy wine</a></div> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; 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margin: 0px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="038_38" border="0" alt="038_38" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMQyAQDbg0I/AAAAAAAAJcY/C2rlTq4qkR0/038_38_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="153" height="102"></a>Forgive me if the details are a little sketchy – whether I went from Buenos Aires to Iguacu Falls first, or Rio or Uraguay, is all a bit confused. Ahhh, yes, I remember now – I spent Christmas in Rio, it felt like the thing to do; but then <strong><em>we</em></strong> (that being me and everyone else staying in the two main hostels in town) didn’t bargain on the fact that everywhere closes on Christmas Eve in Rio, apart from the restaurants which seemed to have been booked up since October (no doubt). A walk in Rio on Christmas Eve is a walk in a ghost town with the odd shady figure (not unlike myself) aimlessly looking for something to do and then, after five or six streets of darkness and solitude, being drawn to the next restaurant with bouncers on the door and smiling faces inside. I stood and scratched my nails down the food establishment’s window pane in a grand display of my anguish at being left alone on such a festive occasion. </p><a name='more'></a> <p>After a Christmas Day breakfast (which was only made bearable through the memory of having met a lovely girl on the same veranda only a couple of days previously) we spent the day waiting for the evening festivities. I took a walk along the beach, in place of lunch, and returned to the hostel to find a group of South African guys acting a little ungraciously. They were happy in themselves, being overly loud and slightly drunk in a ‘football hooligan’ type way (as in the way which makes you wonder if something violent might happen shortly). It was fake, of course, at least it seemed fake – but there was no telling whether they would<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMQyBlPYwYI/AAAAAAAAJcc/JLhejOCjwfg/s1600-h/040_40%5B5%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 10px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="040_40" border="0" alt="040_40" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMQyC59iv4I/AAAAAAAAJcg/cyESqcCD1K8/040_40_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="252" height="168"></a> control themselves or not (simply boyish bravado, headmaster). A discussion between them and another group of travellers (from the U.S.) started and, eventually, the American girls voiced their unhappiness with the way the (white) South African boys were acting (notably their unpleasant references to blacks). This erupted into an argument simply due to the ‘unpleasant feeling in the room’ to start with, but after more specific references to blacks and the boy’s feelings about them, the American girls attempted to make them aware that an Asian girl (who I was chatting to) was in the room and that, perhaps, they should ‘tone it down’. The boys then got annoyed with the girls as they claimed that their racism was towards blacks not Asians and so there was nothing to worry about. Madness. ‘Bless’, was the only thing I could think to say quietly to myself. <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMQyDwrICoI/AAAAAAAAJck/hKyG5PAcEwA/s1600-h/063_63%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="063_63" border="0" alt="063_63" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMQyFDElSzI/AAAAAAAAJco/kNvNWWjswZQ/063_63_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="240"></a>After about five solid minutes of argument, during which the Asian girl was referenced directly, I eventually broke rank in a ridiculous display of honesty and explained how everyone felt (including the idiot that had resorted to racism in an appalling attempt to illustrate his disgruntlement about something he couldn’t quite put his finger on) and told the youngsters from S.A. that they had a simple choice, sit and enjoy the atmosphere that had been created or go for a walk on the beach – which they did; I faulted the American girls ever so slightly for putting weight behind the S.A’s discussion by even bothering to confront them. They protested that they had been ‘told off’ whilst the boys had got off scot free (instantaneously a teacher - suddenly aware of my seniority – yes, I was old), the situation was absurd, so I explained to them I was going to lie to them (and as a consequence they could infer the truth): I credited them with enough intelligence to be able to learn from the experience, the same may not be true of the boys. They went away somewhat happy for the compliment and somewhat confused. My view: if they’re intelligent then they’ll learn in a positive way, if not they won’t – there’s little I can do, they’re not my students.</p> <p>The evening was far better, a little champagne followed by far too many gin and tonics (it was the heat, dear, I had to). There was a BBQ at the ‘sister hostel’ where a large group of lonely travellers had gathered to try to enjoy Christmas, as best they could, in a strange town. Plenty of discussions about where we had been and where we were going was followed by an eventual (slightly tipsy) retirement to a darkened room to watch: ‘Love Actually’ (my favourite word preceded by a universally ‘liked’ one – in Facebook parlance). Such was the exhaustion of the day that everyone had started to cry by about half way through – finally at the credits (and despite the odd tear, myself) I burst into mock sobs – which seemed to wake us all up. It was time to go home.</p> <p>Christmas in Rio, hmmm – this year I’ll stay home… :)</p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a33f20e5-ac18-4390-ad0a-18316bd574ff" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">BlogSpot Tags: <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Latin+American" rel="tag">Latin American</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Buenos+Aires" rel="tag">Buenos Aires</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Iguacu+Falls" rel="tag">Iguacu Falls</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Uraguay" rel="tag">Uraguay</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas" rel="tag">Christmas</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/solitude" rel="tag">solitude</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/veranda" rel="tag">veranda</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/beach" rel="tag">beach</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/South+African" rel="tag">South African</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/hooligan" rel="tag">hooligan</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/bravado" rel="tag">bravado</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Asian" rel="tag">Asian</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/racism" rel="tag">racism</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/teacher" rel="tag">teacher</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/situation" rel="tag">situation</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/consequence" rel="tag">consequence</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/truth" rel="tag">truth</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/intelligence" rel="tag">intelligence</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/champagne" rel="tag">champagne</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Love" rel="tag">Love</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Facebook" rel="tag">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/travellers" rel="tag">travellers</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/references" rel="tag">references</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a></div> <p></p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f841d4eb-bc18-4616-be5f-3bca0e1574e0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Latin+American" rel="tag">Latin American</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Buenos+Aires" rel="tag">Buenos Aires</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Iguacu+Falls" rel="tag">Iguacu Falls</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Uraguay" rel="tag">Uraguay</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Christmas" rel="tag">Christmas</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/solitude" rel="tag">solitude</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/veranda" rel="tag">veranda</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/beach" rel="tag">beach</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/South+African" rel="tag">South African</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hooligan" rel="tag">hooligan</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bravado" rel="tag">bravado</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Asian" rel="tag">Asian</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/racism" rel="tag">racism</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/teacher" rel="tag">teacher</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/situation" rel="tag">situation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/consequence" rel="tag">consequence</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/truth" rel="tag">truth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/intelligence" rel="tag">intelligence</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/champagne" rel="tag">champagne</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Love" rel="tag">Love</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Facebook" rel="tag">Facebook</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/travellers" rel="tag">travellers</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/references" rel="tag">references</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Travellers" rel="tag">Travellers</a></div> <p></p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a0db0e02-220a-4683-9e4a-aa9ad6e38b88" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">LiveJournal Tags: <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Latin+American" rel="tag">Latin American</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Buenos+Aires" rel="tag">Buenos Aires</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Iguacu+Falls" rel="tag">Iguacu Falls</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Uraguay" rel="tag">Uraguay</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Christmas" rel="tag">Christmas</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=solitude" rel="tag">solitude</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=veranda" rel="tag">veranda</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=beach" rel="tag">beach</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=South+African" rel="tag">South African</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=hooligan" rel="tag">hooligan</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=bravado" rel="tag">bravado</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Asian" rel="tag">Asian</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=racism" rel="tag">racism</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=teacher" rel="tag">teacher</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=situation" rel="tag">situation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=consequence" rel="tag">consequence</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=truth" rel="tag">truth</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=intelligence" rel="tag">intelligence</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=champagne" rel="tag">champagne</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Love" rel="tag">Love</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Facebook" rel="tag">Facebook</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=travellers" rel="tag">travellers</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=references" rel="tag">references</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a></div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-63996086285768596362010-10-23T12:09:00.002+01:002010-10-24T12:18:10.842+01:00Tom’s Latin American Vacation (Part 1): Buenos Aires<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCS77pdfI/AAAAAAAAJbw/_xl_1S5BXzo/s1600-h/007_7%5B6%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="007_7" border="0" height="118" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCTsRd7jI/AAAAAAAAJb0/GGYdlAweQHw/007_7_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 5px 5px 5px 0px;" title="007_7" width="177" /></a>It was time for another trip, I’d worked for a while in the UK and the unknown world, once again, beckoned. This time in the shape of a full blown trip around South America. It was a time and a half. <br />
I’d booked my trip in an STA Travel shop in London, where else, and found that I was overcome with desire to fill my mind with all things Latin American. With a smattering of French it seemed reasonable to assume I might pick up a tad of Spanish if I put my mind to it – after all they both share a great deal of Latin as does English, so I hoped the learning curve would be shallow enough to make it worth while.<br />
So, I set off in search of something new and arrived in Buenos Aires with a hostel booked just off the ‘Veinte Cinco de Mayo’ (25th of May), the main street <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCVF1y9cI/AAAAAAAAJb4/ptkx1e7_5C0/s1600-h/019_19%5B6%5D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="019_19" border="0" height="135" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCVvZa7lI/AAAAAAAAJb8/NIOdz6BU6gI/019_19_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px;" title="019_19" width="196" /></a>running through the centre of the city which commemorates a city wide revolution (which did not find favour with the Argentine provinces). The place is BIG, and I don’t mean London City big – but simply, like all things that side of the ‘pond’, space is in abundance. As an example, the 25th of May street is about eight carriageways wide with pedestrian zones that add up to at least another six carriageways of width. The trek from one side to the other through the mid-day sun was never taken lightly. <br />
Coffee shops, theatres, palaces (including the palace made famous by the story and film Evita, where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per%C3%B3n" target="_blank" title="Eva on Wiki">Eva Perón</a> stood waving at the crowds as we thought back to how she actually got there), shopping streets, restaurants galore and indoor/outdoor nightclubs (the last of which I left at about 6 in the morning wondering how on earth I should get back to the hostel). There’s artists at markets (one of whom I made a friend of, albeit mostly on Facebook – see her stuff <a href="http://www.margafabbri.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Link to Marga's Blog with images of her work">here</a>), tango lessons at the dead of night, tango displays in the street and whilst you eat (if you so desire your tango danced whilst you masticate) and plenty of people who are interested in getting to know you and anyone else that passes by.<a href="http://http//www.margafabbri.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Buenos Aires Architecture and Tango Inspired Art"><img align="left" alt="MargaFair" border="0" height="232" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCW0wQF_I/AAAAAAAAJcA/3uaTCK7k_LE/MargaFair%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px;" title="MargaFair" width="283" /></a> <br />
Buenos Aires is certainly a wonderful place. The hostel I stayed in had a wonderful roof terrace that caught the sun – and whilst supping a beer on this 5th of 6th floor heaven I per chanced on my perfect way of life: across the void of the street was a chalet style roof opening onto a very small terrace, perhaps only big enough for a couple of chairs and a small table. The owner of the apartment within had the wooden shutter doors thrown open along with the inner glass doors behind them, I could just see the blue tiled floor – nothing special, just functional. As the extent of my vision descended into darkness and mystery I could just make out the frayed edges of a rug and in the distance what could have been some old wooden furniture; I’m not certain now what musical instrument was being practiced through those doors, but the sun, the music and the beer combined and for a moment (possibly even more so now, if I could afford the time off work) I thought such a way of life would be damn good. Yes – I started to think I wanted to become a student again. …or at least a student of music. <br />
The Tango nightlife was everywhere and when I wasn’t trying to find myself another good restaurant that would serve me a half bottle of good wine and good food (or sake and sushi) for around £12, I went with others to find restaurants that put on a show. These were fun – much fun, it’s got to be done is all I can say!<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCX91r5LI/AAAAAAAAJcE/HJdhO4YNVUM/s1600-h/015_15%5B28%5D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="015_15" border="0" height="302" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCYmI4OiI/AAAAAAAAJcI/zGmOUmngk4U/015_15_thumb%5B26%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" title="015_15" width="203" /></a><br />
I took time out to try to find a tango lesson – one where I could fade into the background. I found one through my artist friend Marga, who directed me to ‘Armenian Street’, or thereabouts, where for less than £2 I found myself surrounded by about 100 others that wanted to learn to dance. If you’re ‘of the female persuasion’ then you’ll get along fine – some young and, let us say, ‘robust’ (for the sake of argument) man would grab you and teach you all he knew – without needing you to speak Spanish. If, on the other hand, you are male you may find the going a little more confusing, especially as the instructors describe what is to be done in Spanish at the start of each 20 minute practice session. I quickly faded to the back after the ‘copy what I do’ start (I was always a reasonable mimic) and decided to simply try to comprehend as much Spanish as I could. <br />
Yes – and what story of a lone man travelling would be complete without my near on obligatory misunderstood situation (all the better if it can be about something embarrassing, no?). Well, after a hard days exploring I decided to stop off in a cafe for a bit of light refreshment and to write (what became) a very unstructured diary of events. The cafe was packed with about 25 people, but I managed to find myself a table, order and start scribbling. Before long I noticed that one of the couple of women sitting on the table next to me was spending a fair amount of time watching me. I looked back and smiled (as one would – she was no an <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCZQsmB_I/AAAAAAAAJcM/6XA0SXnZ-oI/s1600-h/DSC01712%5B45%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="DSC01712" border="0" height="201" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TMLCaF1QWSI/AAAAAAAAJcQ/E9s9FOixero/DSC01712_thumb%5B43%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px;" title="DSC01712" width="135" /></a>unattractive ‘young thing’). More writing. To my left, as I had my head down concentrating on my script, I noticed a fishnetted leg waving for attention, it bounced from the knees of a companion leg with which it was crossed. The owner was rather bohemian-ly dressed with lace and bra straps on show, dark eye make-up and a very broad smile. She was laughing with her friend about something and, at my attention, immediately looked me in the eye and smiled. <br />
‘How friendly the locals are in this neck of Buenos Aires’, I thought to myself – and so pretty. I continued writing and thinking back to times of flirtation at school, ‘twas a good moment. As I looked around to see what other ‘talent’ (as some might put it) was in the place to find that there were many young women – in fact, besides me, an old couple (seemingly in argument), a couple of lovers (in a darkened corner) and two old men near the bar, everyone was a provocatively dressed, fairly attractive Latino ‘babe’. Once again, dear reader, I had found myself in the very heart of the town’s local pick up joint for ‘women of the night’. In this case, however, it was still the afternoon and the fresh faced girls chatted nineteen to the dozen as if they were gossip driven and enjoying life. A few brief negotiations between men who quickly arrived in the cafe and then left with a girl on their arm rather than a coffee confirmed my suspicions – and once my friend by fishnets and proximity alone had left I thought I had seen enough and went on my way.<br />
I wonder if I will ever see my Dusky Fishnet Clad Mistress again – I do hope so… <br />
<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e71597e6-3b29-44e5-9a09-4c92691c574e" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Latin" rel="tag">Latin</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/American" rel="tag">American</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Buenos" rel="tag">Buenos</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Aires" rel="tag">Aires</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/world" rel="tag">world</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/South" rel="tag">South</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/America" rel="tag">America</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/London" rel="tag">London</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/French" rel="tag">French</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Spanish" rel="tag">Spanish</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/English" rel="tag">English</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Veinte+Cinco+Mayo" rel="tag">Veinte Cinco Mayo</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/revolution" rel="tag">revolution</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Argentine" rel="tag">Argentine</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Evita+Per%c3%b3n" rel="tag">Evita Perón</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/tango" rel="tag">tango</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/lessons" rel="tag">lessons</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/roof" rel="tag">roof</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/terrace" rel="tag">terrace</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/beer" rel="tag">beer</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/heaven" rel="tag">heaven</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/life" rel="tag">life</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/chalet" rel="tag">chalet</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Marga+Fabbri" rel="tag">Marga Fabbri</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Dusky" rel="tag">Dusky</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Fishnet+Clad" rel="tag">Fishnet Clad</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/restaurants" rel="tag">restaurants</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/nightclubs" rel="tag">nightclubs</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/artists" rel="tag">artists</a></div><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:446a74d8-33ce-4572-8543-b10cd00dd0e8" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">LiveJournal Tags: <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Latin" rel="tag">Latin</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=American" rel="tag">American</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Buenos" rel="tag">Buenos</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Aires" rel="tag">Aires</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=world" rel="tag">world</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=South" rel="tag">South</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=America" rel="tag">America</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=London" rel="tag">London</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=French" rel="tag">French</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Spanish" rel="tag">Spanish</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=English" rel="tag">English</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Veinte+Cinco+Mayo" rel="tag">Veinte Cinco Mayo</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=revolution" rel="tag">revolution</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Argentine" rel="tag">Argentine</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Evita+Per%c3%b3n" rel="tag">Evita Perón</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=tango" rel="tag">tango</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=lessons" rel="tag">lessons</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=roof" rel="tag">roof</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=terrace" rel="tag">terrace</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=beer" rel="tag">beer</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=heaven" rel="tag">heaven</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=life" rel="tag">life</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=chalet" rel="tag">chalet</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Marga+Fabbri" rel="tag">Marga Fabbri</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Dusky" rel="tag">Dusky</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=Fishnet+Clad" rel="tag">Fishnet Clad</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=restaurants" rel="tag">restaurants</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=nightclubs" rel="tag">nightclubs</a>,<a href="http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=artists" rel="tag">artists</a></div><div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:db6dee7f-312b-4a71-868e-5bc9c0448606" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">BlogSpot Tags: <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/BlogSpot+Tags%3a+Latin" rel="tag">BlogSpot Tags: Latin</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/American" rel="tag">American</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Vacation" rel="tag">Vacation</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Buenos" rel="tag">Buenos</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Aires" rel="tag">Aires</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/world" rel="tag">world</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/South" rel="tag">South</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/America" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Travel" rel="tag">Travel</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/London" rel="tag">London</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/French" rel="tag">French</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Spanish" rel="tag">Spanish</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/English" rel="tag">English</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/hostel" rel="tag">hostel</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Veinte+Cinco+Mayo" rel="tag">Veinte Cinco Mayo</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/revolution" rel="tag">revolution</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Argentine" rel="tag">Argentine</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Evita+Per%c3%b3n" rel="tag">Evita Perón</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/tango" rel="tag">tango</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/lessons" rel="tag">lessons</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/roof" rel="tag">roof</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/terrace" rel="tag">terrace</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/beer" rel="tag">beer</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/heaven" rel="tag">heaven</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/life" rel="tag">life</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/chalet" rel="tag">chalet</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Marga+Fabbri" rel="tag">Marga Fabbri</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Dusky" rel="tag">Dusky</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/Fishnet+Clad" rel="tag">Fishnet Clad</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/restaurants" rel="tag">restaurants</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/nightclubs" rel="tag">nightclubs</a>, <a href="http://thomasperren.blogspot.com/search/label/artists" rel="tag">artists</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-57469107591272265642010-10-20T23:22:00.001+01:002010-10-20T23:22:02.454+01:00Tom’s European Vacation (Part 9) – Pompeii, Rome, Venice<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TL9rgffGinI/AAAAAAAAJbc/dx7u5lEpLqE/s1600-h/DSC02463%5B12%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSC02463" border="0" alt="DSC02463" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TL9rgyXkJUI/AAAAAAAAJbg/8GJVMiXrDKg/DSC02463_thumb%5B10%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="99" height="148"></a> ‘When in Rome’, my mother always used to say… but if I were to follow that way of thinking I would probably attempt to take over the world, name my offspring the next emperor and die as my world domination slowly fell apart after a few hundred years. Not bad – but I’d prefer to do things my own way, so…</p> <p>Bit of Greece? Thank you very much – over to Italy, sir? But of course… I caught myself a boat from Greece over to Italy and after a relaxing trip across the width of Italy I landed in Pompeii – or there-abouts. </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 5px" id="scid:84E294D0-71C9-4bd0-A0FE-95764E0368D9:3787251a-4037-4185-9ed6-218e678b77ff" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=40.80133~14.35638&lvl=10&style=h&scene=11575274&sp=aN.40.74414_14.48685_Pompeii_&mkt=en-us&FORM=LLWR" id="map-4ad01912-8a64-49f5-afe0-c98162a66e80" alt="View map" title="View map"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TL9rhckrAXI/AAAAAAAAJbk/dXxveOdNuxo/map-361d382ae35a.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="240" alt="Pushpin: Pompeii - a short rail trip from Naples"></a><br><label for="map-4ad01912-8a64-49f5-afe0-c98162a66e80" style="font-size:.8em;">Pushpin: Pompeii - a short rail trip from Naples</label></div>The town I stopped in was Naples, down near the water front was a <a title="Various hostels at HostelWorld" href="http://www.hostelworld.com/search?country=Italy&city=Naples" target="_blank">hostel</a> of epic cheapness, the town itself is worth a visit with fantastic back streets that make you feel like it could be the 1950’s all over again, wonderful churches & squares with wide open spaces that stretch down to the sea, as well as shopping for those of you with no imagination other than to spend money. <p></p><a name='more'></a> <p>All of that to keep you busy and then… Pompeii. Assuming you get there as early as humanly possible (not very early when having had a bottle of wine and too much cheese the night before in your hostel), you might just have enough time to see it all. Even then, you’ll still wonder about the size of it and come away thinking, ‘Did I explore that area’ as you browse the map back at the <a title="Various Hostels at HostelWorld" href="http://www.hostelworld.com/search?country=Italy&city=Naples" target="_blank">hostel</a>. Surprisingly there’s more here than the repeated ‘<a title="Blue Peter on Wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peter" target="_blank">Blue Peter</a>’ television articles would have you believe; little did I know that, ‘There’s so much here, far more than we can tell you about on this programme – some fantastic mosaics, to name but a few, err, things’, actually meant, ‘There’s loads of pornographic mosaics here – it’s great’. Admittedly they’re ‘expertly created and crafted’, but ultimately they’re smut – either for a bit of fun or to arouse. All I can advise is, go take a look – it’s much more fun than the books/TV would have you believe.</p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 5px; display: inline; float: left; padding-top: 5px" id="scid:66721397-FF69-4ca6-AEC4-17E6B3208830:c0f82e1b-430e-4c9d-8df5-6842533abb0d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a style="border:0px" href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!954&type=5"><img style="border:0px" alt="View Pompeii" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TL9rh_7jxYI/AAAAAAAAJbo/WYKvpjXaQ-o/InlineRepresentationf8416dfc-eafb-439b-89cf-856615dd9154.jpg?imgmax=800" /></a><div style="width:400px;text-align:right;" ><a href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!954&type=5">View Full Album</a></div></div>You can just see from the map opposite the size of <a title="Mt Vesuvius at Wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesuvius" target="_blank">Mt. Vesuvius</a> – it overlooks everything in the area, although rather unobtrusively, looks like it might be good fun to ski down in the winter, but certainly doesn’t conjure up much of a feeling of fear – even after I had seen the petrified bodies in glass cases. If you’re interested in that sort of thing – take a look through my pictures… but if you really are interested in that, perhaps see a <a title="Private Healthcare UK" href="http://www.privatehealth.co.uk/privatespecialists/find-a-doctor/psychiatrists/" target="_blank">psychiatrist</a>. ;) <p></p> <p>So from Naples to Rome, a trip I remember little of – <em><strong>all </strong></em>the usual there: the <a title="Colosseum at Freebase (cue memories of White Lines - Don't Do It)" href="http://www.freebase.com/view/en/colosseum" target="_blank">Coliseum</a>, <a title="Pantheon at Freebase" href="http://www.freebase.com/view/en/pantheon_rome" target="_blank">Pantheon</a>, <a title="Churches of Rome at Freebase" href="http://www.freebase.com/view/en/churches_of_rome" target="_blank">plenty of churches</a> and, of course, <a title="St Peter's at Freebase" href="http://www.freebase.com/view/en/st_peters_basilica" target="_blank">St Peter’s Basilica</a> and the Vatican City as a whole. I saw it all, as one would, and then settled down to a pizza just down the road from the Coliseum itself. Of course, special mention must go to the Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) ceiling which is shockingly good – with the little </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 5px" id="scid:66721397-FF69-4ca6-AEC4-17E6B3208830:dc5327b1-8220-40b5-b239-66fa1c45a5a0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a style="border:0px" href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!976&type=5"><img style="border:0px" alt="View Rome & Venice" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TL9riVt8x3I/AAAAAAAAJbs/3tgd69yoGB4/InlineRepresentationd98db9aa-1015-4801-aaa3-c740cb29dd7c.jpg?imgmax=800" /></a><div style="width:400px;text-align:right;" ><a href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!976&type=5">View Full Album</a></div></div>suggestions of surrealism here and there that let the ‘modern art’ movement know that nothing is modern, really, it’s just that most of these guys were better than most of you. (I enjoyed writing that – and apologise for any hurt it may have caused). <p></p> <p>Meanwhile Venice called – but I was engaged (to be married, as it happens, but nobody told me) – so after the call was over I moved on. Confusing, hey? Anyway – I went down to Venice and roamed the streets, alone, remembering the good old days when I visited with my parents and looked at small glass models of the Pink Panther back in 1980/1 (Is that possible? Can I really be that old/young? Of course – I think - everything is, possible that is… Right, now that’s clear and you’re distracted from my age, let’s get on with the story). I sighed at the Bridge of Sighs, wondered at the wandering tourists, preyed upon the praying few (didn’t really – it just sounded fun) and a few other things besides. See the photos. It’s late, I need to have a beer and… go to bed, I suppose.</p> <p>P.S. Most notable memory: sleeping in a double bed in a hostel in Rome with a Liverpudlian and his mum on bunk beds at my feet. I offered her the double – I even suggested I’d keep her company, but to no avail, they stayed in the bunk beds that reminded me of my youth. I felt like a parent to them both. Most odd.</p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-75600129489613145782010-10-18T21:22:00.001+01:002010-10-18T21:22:58.446+01:00Tom’s European Vacation (Part 8): Athens…<div id="msgcns!5EABAC309125BB42!322" class="bvMsg"> <p>What I was doing in Athens is anyone’s guess… I had got there (from a different place) by train (I think) only to find that, as with everywhere else I found myself, I did not speak the language and, hitherto, had felt no particular desire to go in the first place.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px"><a style="border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!288&ct=photos"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" alt="View Athens, Greece" src="http://tomperren.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/inlinerepresentation887efbea41df453f.jpg?w=300"></a> <div style="text-align: right; width: 340px"><a href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!288&ct=photos">View Full Album</a></div></div> <p>Mildly enthusiastic about the possibility of sitting down and discussing high-brow theories of logic vs belief or, alternatively, meeting some gorgeous Greek girl (either would have been fine) I set off for the only recognisable structure in the area…</p> <p>Once there (the <a title="Partenon on Wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon" target="_blank">Parthenon</a>), and whilst surveying Athens from above, I eavesdropped on an art/history lesson. It <strong><em>was</em> </strong>interesting, however the only bits of information I didn’t already know I have since forgotten. On the gorgeous Greek girl front (if, indeed, I could get anywhere near her front) there was no action; as for the opportunity to discuss logic vs belief on the steps where some old guys chatted ages ago; no luck. Although I did have a look at the steps, very worn they were <a title="Close up of worn steps" href="http://cid-5eabac309125bb42.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Athens%5EJ%20Greece/DSC02340.JPG" target="_blank">too</a>. </p> <p>So, some nice photos at least, but little else. I do recall a most splendid cold beer (or was it several hundred?) with some snack food somewhere in the narrow streets below the <a title="Acropolis on Wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens" target="_blank">Acropolis</a> – the rest is a blur for some reason.</p> <p>‘Be thankful for the beer’, says my mangled mind in a kind of religious stupor; let us pray: oh Lord please provide us with beer, women and enough money to enjoy the two in large enough quantities that we forget what we did the following morning… Amen.</p></div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-45954745456206172092010-10-18T21:17:00.001+01:002010-10-18T21:17:34.305+01:00JQuery – Scroll up Headline Display<p>A really simple newsfeed scrolling display – at time of writing only displays one item at a time, but the author intends to write a multi-item display version before long: <a href="http://www.learningjquery.com/2006/10/scroll-up-headline-reader">http://www.learningjquery.com/2006/10/scroll-up-headline-reader</a></p> <p>Just in case the original source disappears here’s the code from that page:</p> <p>HTML: </p> <div class="csharpcode"><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 1: </span><span class="kwrd"><</span><span class="html">div</span> <span class="attr">id</span><span class="kwrd">="scrollup"</span><span class="kwrd">></span></pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 2: </span> <span class="kwrd"><</span><span class="html">div</span> <span class="attr">class</span><span class="kwrd">="headline"</span><span class="kwrd">></span> ... <span class="kwrd"></</span><span class="html">div</span><span class="kwrd">></span> </pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 3: </span> <span class="kwrd"><</span><span class="html">div</span> <span class="attr">class</span><span class="kwrd">="headline"</span><span class="kwrd">></span> ... <span class="kwrd"></</span><span class="html">div</span><span class="kwrd">></span> </pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 4: </span> <span class="kwrd"><</span><span class="html">div</span> <span class="attr">class</span><span class="kwrd">="headline"</span><span class="kwrd">></span> ... <span class="kwrd"></</span><span class="html">div</span><span class="kwrd">></span> </pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 5: </span> <span class="kwrd"><</span><span class="html">div</span> <span class="attr">class</span><span class="kwrd">="headline"</span><span class="kwrd">></span> ... <span class="kwrd"></</span><span class="html">div</span><span class="kwrd">></span> </pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 6: </span><span class="kwrd"></</span><span class="html">div</span><span class="kwrd">></span></pre></div><br /><style type="text/css"><br />.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre<br />{<br /> font-size: small;<br /> color: black;<br /> font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace;<br /> background-color: #ffffff;<br /> /*white-space: pre;*/<br />}<br />.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }<br />.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }<br />.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }<br />.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }<br />.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }<br />.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }<br />.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }<br />.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }<br />.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }<br />.csharpcode .alt <br />{<br /> background-color: #f4f4f4;<br /> width: 100%;<br /> margin: 0em;<br />}<br />.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }</style><br /><br /><p>CSS:</p><br /><div class="csharpcode"><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 1: </span>#scrollup {</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 2: </span> position: relative;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 3: </span> overflow: hidden;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 4: </span> border: 1px solid #000;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 5: </span> height: 200px;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 6: </span> width: 200px</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 7: </span>}</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 8: </span>.headline {</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 9: </span> position: absolute;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 10: </span> top: 210px;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 11: </span> left: 5px;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 12: </span> height: 195px;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 13: </span> width:190px;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 14: </span>}</pre></div><br /><div class="csharpcode"> </div><br /><div class="csharpcode">Javascript:</div><br /><div class="csharpcode"><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 1: </span><span class="kwrd">var</span> headline_count;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 2: </span><span class="kwrd">var</span> headline_interval;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 3: </span><span class="kwrd">var</span> old_headline = 0;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 4: </span><span class="kwrd">var</span> current_headline = 0;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 5: </span>$(document).ready(<span class="kwrd">function</span>(){</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 6: </span> headline_count = $(<span class="str">"div.headline"</span>).size();</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 7: </span> $(<span class="str">"div.headline:eq("</span>+current_headline+<span class="str">")"</span>).css(<span class="str">'top'</span>, <span class="str">'5px'</span>);</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 8: </span> </pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 9: </span> headline_interval = setInterval(headline_rotate,5000);</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 10: </span> $(<span class="str">'#scrollup'</span>).hover(<span class="kwrd">function</span>() {</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 11: </span> clearInterval(headline_interval);</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 12: </span> }, <span class="kwrd">function</span>() {</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 13: </span> headline_interval = setInterval(headline_rotate,5000);</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 14: </span> headline_rotate();</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 15: </span> });</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 16: </span>});</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 17: </span><span class="kwrd">function</span> headline_rotate() {</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 18: </span> current_headline = (old_headline + 1) % headline_count;</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 19: </span> $(<span class="str">"div.headline:eq("</span> + old_headline + <span class="str">")"</span>)</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 20: </span> .animate({top: -205},<span class="str">"slow"</span>, <span class="kwrd">function</span>() {</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 21: </span> $(<span class="kwrd">this</span>).css(<span class="str">'top'</span>, <span class="str">'210px'</span>);</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 22: </span> });</pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 23: </span> $(<span class="str">"div.headline:eq("</span> + current_headline + <span class="str">")"</span>)</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 24: </span> .animate({top: 5},<span class="str">"slow"</span>); </pre><pre class="alt"><span class="lnum"> 25: </span> old_headline = current_headline;</pre><pre><span class="lnum"> 26: }</span></pre></div><br /><style type="text/css"><br />.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre<br />{<br /> font-size: small;<br /> color: black;<br /> font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace;<br /> background-color: #ffffff;<br /> /*white-space: pre;*/<br />}<br />.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }<br />.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }<br />.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }<br />.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }<br />.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }<br />.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }<br />.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }<br />.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }<br />.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }<br />.csharpcode .alt <br />{<br /> background-color: #f4f4f4;<br /> width: 100%;<br /> margin: 0em;<br />}<br />.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }</style> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-73527409690421771192010-10-13T11:18:00.002+01:002010-10-13T11:20:40.655+01:00Has Bournemouth gone fitness mad?“Now hold on a minute”, I hear you say, “I live in Bournemouth and there’s absolutely no way I could be confused with an adrenalin junky”. “…and fair play to you”, I would say, however, it does seem that the Borough of Bournemouth (which, for those finickity types out there, includes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boscombe" target="_blank" title="Boscombe as described by Wiki">Boscombe</a>) is starting to take on a ‘wellness of the populous’ stance in their city <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLWHc3TTdEI/AAAAAAAAJbM/1NGYCGetMRI/s1600-h/DSC02867%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="Boscombe Pier as evening falls" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLWHdVrHp-I/AAAAAAAAJbQ/EDvn8awYgXo/DSC02867_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Boscombe Pier as evening falls" width="240" /></a>planning.<br />
<br />
First there was the Boscombe ‘rejuvenation’ project that included a new pier approach, <a href="http://www.boscombeoverstrand.co.uk/" title="Listen to the sea">The Overstrand</a> (with it’s endless kayak, surf board rentals and <a href="http://www.urbanreef.com/" target="_blank" title="Wine and dine!">Urban Reef</a>) and the artificial reef - a transformation of the beach front itself. Not so much geared towards fitness, but on a clear day who could refrain from a quick surf lesson with somebody from the local <a href="http://www.sortedsurfshop.co.uk/news.asp" target="_blank" title="See latest lesson plans at their site">Sorted Surf Shop</a>. Before you know it your abs too could look, well, different.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
Then came ‘<a href="http://www.dancesouthwest.org.uk/projects/pavilion-dance" target="_blank" title="Pavilion Dance website">Pavilion Dance</a>’ hot on it’s heals – just moments away from Bournemouth Pier. A veritable cornucopia of dance lessons and performances scheduled in to take us to Christmas and beyond, already. If you ever had an inclination to try <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krumping" target="_blank" title="Krumping definition on Wiki">Krumping</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waacking" target="_blank" title="Waacking definition on Wiki">Waacking</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Hop" target="_blank" title="Lindy Hop definition on Wiki">Lindy Hop</a> (the latter I hear is popular with some) then take a look. It’s only just opened (in September); and, if the above all sounds too run of the mill, why not try <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clogging" target="_blank" title="Appalachian Clog definition on Wiki">Appalachian Clog</a> – if nothing else, an excellent way to add a little something new to your sex <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLWHd0eErGI/AAAAAAAAJbU/KN94jeAkvTc/s1600-h/DSC03043%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="Slightly overexposed (told you it was sunny here) entrance to Pavilion Dance with Bournemouth Pier approach in the background" border="0" height="240" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLWHeWfn_NI/AAAAAAAAJbY/HUOKOdHzn4A/DSC03043_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 6px 7px 6px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Slightly overexposed (told you it was sunny here) entrance to Pavilion Dance with Bournemouth Pier approach in the background" width="160" /></a>life. There are performances galore as well – with up to three performances a night in some circumstances. Go there – try it out, I say!<br />
<br />
So we have surfing, kayaking, dancing (and not just the standard drunken experience that some remember from university years) and now… Ice Staking. Yes – some twenty years or so since the Bournemouth Ice Rink closed on Westover Road finally someone with some sense has realised that this is quite a fun way to spend an afternoon – especially if it’s raining and you’re in Bournemouth on a brief summer break (obviously, this never happens, the sun always shines – and, no, Bournemouth Tourist Board aren’t paying me, not yet anyway).<br />
<br />
“So where is this ice rink going to be”, I hear you cry out with exultation! OK, ok, calm down, it’s only an ice rink – and more to the point it’s not built yet. I do hear, though, that the new rink will be in Kings Park and should look something like that which is pictured inset.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs820.snc4/68019_441219640123_140445935123_5829178_8105613_n.jpg" target="_blank" title="Planned Kings Park Ice Rink"><img align="right" height="204" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs820.snc4/68019_441219640123_140445935123_5829178_8105613_n.jpg" style="display: inline; margin: 6px 0px 6px 6px;" width="286" /></a><br />
If you’re a Facebook fan take a look <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=441219640123&set=a.386734865123.173057.140445935123&pid=5829178&id=140445935123" target="_blank" title="Link into facebook page for Ice Rink.">here</a>. It looks big, you might think, and you’d be right – it’s an Olympic sized Ice Rink with, by the looks of things, plenty of other facilities including: 5000 seats (for spectators, not just for tired shoppers – although?), climbing wall, standing surf wave (to get your practice in before doing the real thing down at Boscombe Pier), synthetic turf pitches for football, netball, tennis and hockey.<br />
<br />
…and what do we lose – a couple of football pitches, I never liked the game anyway so I’m not fussed. Actually, they aren’t lost, they’re merely relocated to elsewhere within the park. The real impact is losing green open spaces – but if done well, perhaps more people will think to go and enjoy the green open space before and after their skating. Regardless of your stance on all this you can still have your say here: the <a href="http://planning.bournemouth.gov.uk/onlineregister/PlanAppDisp.asp?RecNum=77366" target="_blank" title="External Link to Bournemouth Direct.Gov site">Online Planning Applications Register</a> – and remember, if you haven’t got a complaint about it – praise it, if you <em>want</em> that rink for your kids (well, for <em><strong>you </strong></em>really, but who’d admit to that)…<br />
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P.S. On the Pavilion Dance situation: if anyone can find out how they teach <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour" target="_blank" title="Parkour definition on Wiki">Parkour</a> in a dance studio, please get back to me (visions of Matrix style sequences on entering the studio, surely aren’t possible, are they?).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-37457441932001672862010-10-12T08:25:00.001+01:002010-10-12T08:28:12.223+01:00Tom’s European Vacation (Part 7): Istanbul<p>Hours and hours of sitting on a train. Then more hours sitting on a train. If you imagine that with a dose of sleep followed by yet more hours sitting on a train then you may start to have the beginnings of the nightmare which is travelling non-stop from Bucharest to Istanbul by rail, once you have run out of money.</p> <p>It was when I realised that I needed to ration my water supply, for the near on 48 hour journey, that I understood I should have prepared in advance. Foolish of me – but I was recovering from an Irish bar hang over of mystique proportions, so please forgive me.</p> <p>Sliding into Istanbul near on 6am at the end of this journey from hell could never have been a greater relief – the sun was shining and the view from the right of the train was of the sea, with the window open to the breeze. The railway ‘tracks’ the coastline and the train goes into slow-mo to give you a chance to take it all in. Finally the train halts in the station leaving you, once more, as is so wonderful with train travel, smack bang in the centre of where you are visiting.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 5px; width: 568px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 5px" id="scid:84E294D0-71C9-4bd0-A0FE-95764E0368D9:4940f1f1-a475-41ef-8bd9-12c73c247cf4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=41.01093~28.97266&lvl=14&style=h&mkt=en-us&FORM=LLWR" id="map-0d8936c8-6e4a-438e-b20c-ed17240696c8" alt="View map" title="View map"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQNQcRwhcI/AAAAAAAAJXw/RA80PvFRGr0/map2c1fb3be96e1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="568" height="338" alt="Istanbul station is positioned at the topright (just left of the Gulhane Parki - the railway having circumnavigated the peninsula."></a><br><label for="map-0d8936c8-6e4a-438e-b20c-ed17240696c8" style="font-size:.8em;">Istanbul station is positioned at the topright (just left of the Gulhane Parki - the railway having circumnavigated the peninsula.</label></div> <p>Using my ‘<a title="Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1741045916?ie=UTF8&tag=aseptchil-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1741045916">Europe on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)</a>’ book I quickly found a raft of options for hostels to stay in within easy walking distance of the station.</p> <p>Why was I here? Mainly to get an eyeful of the Blue & Sofia Mosques which I’d read about earlier in the trip. This was the farthest I was travelling East for now so this seemed like the </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:66721397-FF69-4ca6-AEC4-17E6B3208830:be11c7e4-b087-48f8-8cec-9e5b542c1f0c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style='outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:290px;border-collapse:collapse;' > <tr> <td colspan=2 style='outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:5px 0px 5px 5px;width:113px;vertical-align:bottom;' > <a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!936&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" target="_blank" border="0" style="outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:0px;"> <img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" alt="View album" title="View album" width="113" height="113" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN4Zy6_II/AAAAAAAAJZg/KR9D1VrvU7Y/-88772523506845D3D.png?imgmax=800" /></a> </td> <td colspan=3 style='margin:0px;padding:5px 5px 5px 0px;outline:none;border-style:none;width:157px' > <div style="margin-left:10px;top:-3%;" > <div style='width:157px;overflow:visible;'><a style="text-decoration:none;" href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=browse&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=5&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.26em;padding:0px;width:157px;font-size:26pt;font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" defaultText='Enter album name here'>Istanbul</span></a></div> <div style="padding:10px 0px 0px 0px;margin:0px;"> <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 style="margin:0px;padding:0px;outline:none;border-style:none;border-collapse:collapse;width:157px;"><br /> <tr><br /> <td style="outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:10px 15px 6px 0px;"><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=5&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;">VIEW SLIDE SHOW</a></td><br /> <td style="outline:none;border-style:none;margin:0px;padding:10px 0px 6px 0px;"><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=downloadphotos&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=5&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;">DOWNLOAD ALL</a></td><br /> </tr><br /> <br /> </table> </div> </div> </td> </tr> <tr><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 5px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!926&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN453s5-I/AAAAAAAAJZk/k-OIzbpUEfc/-12143669246741B669.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!935&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN5RcnCJI/AAAAAAAAJZo/5kq2h5QwrAs/1973117820525033F6.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a 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href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!937&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN8iXUS4I/AAAAAAAAJaI/GyBGxu7uEQc/-1384619047602279F1.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 5px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!932&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN9EHBllI/AAAAAAAAJaM/e-LmLs7nvkE/10230976094B30F77E.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!934&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN9a4-_hI/AAAAAAAAJaQ/Via4vEHufEA/-753835140791E4A36.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!941&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN9887xJI/AAAAAAAAJaU/GhpyBJD90n4/-352164996791E4A36.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!951&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN-ZBk8kI/AAAAAAAAJaY/TfPmXSHTob8/-1080476686270B9CEF.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!944&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN-jmwu0I/AAAAAAAAJac/X-xACUoGtfE/-849058995121A1A7C.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 5px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!952&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN_Nmd8wI/AAAAAAAAJag/BZZH5f05Ho4/48753755740076D34.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!942&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN_fPTxcI/AAAAAAAAJak/xfpSis0ynZI/-35216509340076D34.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!946&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQN_iCgiRI/AAAAAAAAJao/lDXFxd86oKM/-3303475792B15EAC1.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!943&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOADcoDrI/AAAAAAAAJas/cLxvcnIZHqU/31728519759033D79.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!940&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOAcPxoSI/AAAAAAAAJaw/rlH-ATDHC8s/-35216487259033D79.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 5px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!927&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOA3Kj50I/AAAAAAAAJa0/BY8Rkikb1oU/-121436670306F09032.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!950&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOBNhuajI/AAAAAAAAJa4/8aDLSHiLTuk/197311764971FF0DBE.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!928&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOBsvRrzI/AAAAAAAAJa8/eUvnH4jMZYc/-12143668931FEC6077.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!939&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOCDUbRSI/AAAAAAAAJbA/PH5nzkOoDJU/-3521649031FEC6077.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!930&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOCap1W5I/AAAAAAAAJbE/jYlwDjYo_ro/-16160368780AFADE04.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 5px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' ><a href="https://cid-5eabac309125bb42.skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?page=play&resid=5EABAC309125BB42!949&parid=5EABAC309125BB42!925&type=1&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&authkey=a!Dd*Pg!yOY%24" border="0" target="_blank" style="font-family:'Segoe UI', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:8pt;outline:none;border-style:none;text-decoration: none;padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img style="outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px;margin:0px;border:0px;background:none;background-image:none;vertical-align:bottom;" border="0" width="54" alt="View album" title="View album" height="54" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLQOCoPSRuI/AAAAAAAAJbI/eqRw8qKLI3Q/197311768038E830BC.png?imgmax=800" /></a></td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' > </td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' > </td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' > </td><td style='vertical-align:bottom;outline:none;border-style:none;padding:0px 5px 5px 0px;margin:0px;width:54px;height:54px;' > </td></tr></table></div>outer limits of my journey. Having said that, in many ways it seemed the most civilised stop off I had yet made – perhaps as the city was so tourist friendly, everyone knew where the hostels and hotels were, were willing to help and sign language worked well when English was not understood. I have to say it was one of the most relaxed atmospheres I had experienced up to this point in my European vacation. <p>The Mosques were amazing – The Blue Mosque’s interior was superb with the addition of carpets (over the Christian churches I’d been inside before) making for a completely different auditory experience. The Hagia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) Mosque, originally a Christian church until the 15th century (and now a museum), is enormous in scale – putting one in mind of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_mythology">Persian myth</a>. The fact that the church has been around since the 4th century is impressive enough, for a place of worship to withstand the test of time, that is – but to know that the current structure with it’s vast dome has been here since the 6th century staggers. I wandered the galleries for a while and lost all track of the fact that I was no longer on the ground floor – so capacious were they.</p> <p>A quick tour of the cisterns gave rise to the understanding of the sheer scale of the civilisation here – these people were prepared to build underground ‘water vaults’ beneath their city that could contain up to 80,000 cubic meters of water (80 million litres of water). Not only that but these <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisterns">cisterns</a> were, in places, quite decorative – each sporting columns with Corinthian style carvings. In one picture (above) their is an off-cut of sculpted stone used as a base for one of these columns – presumably a carving that didn’t quite come up to scratch.</p> <p>Lastly the markets – who can go to Istanbul without trying out the ‘Grand Bazaar’, it’s very name seems to suggest a wondrous place with carpets, magical or not, awaiting you to haggle over them. The range of herbs and spices for sale are extraordinary, not only that but if you look slightly further afield one can find birds and animals awaiting your perusal – although you won’t be able to hear anything when you do see them. The noise from the birds alone is deafening. </p> <p>So that’s it – Istanbul, plenty of cheap hostels to stay in – lovely restaurants, views over the sea whilst sipping tea just outside the Fort of Rumeli grounds, bazaars, cisterns (or should I say ‘grand water caverns’ so we don’t get confused) and mosques.</p> <p>Beautiful! …and sunny too! </p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-77084439901813744012010-10-11T15:09:00.001+01:002010-10-11T15:09:20.923+01:00The ‘Delights of Camden Town’–a Scientific Romance…<p>Since the inception of the first cascade around the vicinity of the Round House Theatre, there has been a distinguished improvement upon previous years’ enhancements.</p> <p>I’ve been watching for sometime and my interest lies not only with <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMagZw2tBI/AAAAAAAAJXY/dV9fhfZSfrw/s1600-h/DSC03019%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 8px 0px 0px 7px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="DSC03019" border="0" alt="DSC03019" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMag7UgZFI/AAAAAAAAJXc/fJ_8QcBB4II/DSC03019_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="240"></a>the PVC clad women, but with the delightful store holders who, to this day, invite me to purchase their wares.</p> <p>I haven’t ever experienced quite such a performance from the general populous as I have from these individuals and one may think that my interest is purely carnal – but i can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, they are not.</p> <p>Despite my current situation, sans robes, I work hard on this topic to provide you with information otherwise difficult to garner. Here, within these tomes, I intend to provide you with a brief guide to life in this not so sleepy suburb of the Great City Of London.</p> <p>It was twenty years ago today that I first stumbled, wet behind the ears, onto the scene. Dragging me backwards in time to the dark days of adolescence was a pure faced but tangibly dangerous young thing whom intended to have me, regardless of cost. She wept when she could, to goad me into caring for her, which I did without hesitation or want. She caressed the inner most parts of my soul, she dashed me against the rocks of heart-ache and sorrow. And I loved her.</p> <p>It was in these times that I had taken the time to establish myself as a courtier to the King and Queen of Camden – those fresh faced lovelies whom everyone envied for their love of one another and disregard for all else, for all traces of sense and decorum. They had taken me under their wing to teach me the true meaning of profit and loss – and with them an empire had emerged with me at the financial helm. Dealings in t-shirts, foreign spices, cloth, teas, coffees and, at times (although nobody was aware), such dangerous things as opiates.</p> <p>They had urged me to get involved on the front line, but even then I knew that nothing good could become of this – nothing, except that is, perhaps, love. My love for her was, at first, a secret; she was a fair maiden in the mass of confusion and dealings who walked blissfully unaware of the seedy world that had started to envelop her. The pedestal that I had placed beneath her was far more substantial than that placed under the endless stream of party girls who visited the local taverns – whose platforms were only leather bound.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMah7AkPeI/AAAAAAAAJXg/RZ1Rgyh4iaw/s1600-h/DSC03017%5B9%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 11px 7px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="DSC03017" border="0" alt="DSC03017" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMaifFrgBI/AAAAAAAAJXk/yhb4lZ6FuEo/DSC03017_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160"></a>My eyes would wander far and wide to find her, like a mist within the maelstrom, searching her out as her innocence radiated to all those she came in contact with. If my business partners were the King and Queen of Camden, she was the Princess – and one whom must be treated with such delicacy, such consideration that even the most precious doily would feel envy for. </p> <p>The softness of her lamp-lit eyes in the dark of the winter nights belied her nature – at these times her resolve to have me removed from office was at its strongest. One by one the orders came in from foreign investors, t-shirts seemed to be sold by the thousand, food was devoured at banquets and on the streets, spices and hallucinogenics went from the shelves only minutes after being stocked. But it was her, she was the force behind it all, she was the shadow chancellor eating away at our system, eating away at the profit margins and her plan was flawless.</p> <p>It was not enough for me to love her from a distance, in time I had to find a way to meet her, to conquer her. I knew not of her plan at the beginning, but I now know she had captured my soul years before, in some way the like of which I still do not know. She knew my every move before I made it. Even when I did find her in the crowds she seemed to have let it happen – knowing that the familiarity I was breeding within myself would one day lead to the most devastating love of all.</p> <p>It was a February night that the tidings of awfulness were becoming clear, the foreign trade collapsed and we had purchas<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMajVlzZvI/AAAAAAAAJXo/jxzZEYGPibo/s1600-h/DSC03028%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px 9px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="DSC03028" border="0" alt="DSC03028" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TLMaj0l4g5I/AAAAAAAAJXs/QJBsImXP5vw/DSC03028_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160"></a>ed more goods than ever before to cover for the Easter break. Time dragged itself with the energy of a sloth as we saw our money reserves disappear on such feeble minded things as electricity for refrigeration and light. Trade was so diabolically slow as to cause the King and Queen to live in different residences with argument after argument over who and what had caused such a rift in the profit.</p> <p>Negative figures approached, the pretties stayed at home in fear of the kind of desperate customers that were now on the loose – only bargain hunters, now swooping in to take advantage of our last ditch attempts at saving our sub-economy.</p> <p>You see, My Love had ceased the additional orders she had been making, had sold back her stock to markets around the country causing an enormous proliferation of pound shops nationwide. She was devilish, and despite myself I started to realise that she was behind it all – why was there always that room in her shared house off-limits to all who visited? Why did she never take part in the sampling of the medicaments? Why was she studying accountancy in her spare time? Why was she… Oh, why she she her!</p> <p>My anger with her was only matched by my love and both wished to seize her, to have her as mine – that intellect, that body, that innocence, that calculating brain; that full chain of pound shops waiting for a Managing Director.</p> <p>The night came of our collapse – she saw by the change in my eyes that I knew of what she had done. She knew – and she was charged by it, she wanted me to confront her. But I could not, not yet… </p> <p><em>To be continued…</em></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-58976697604574745232010-10-07T11:07:00.004+01:002010-10-08T01:45:37.820+01:00Bordering on convenience (or: Tescos takes over Border store)…Yes – astonishing as it may seem – <a href="http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8434612.Planned_Tesco_for_Bournemouth_Square_wins_licence_to_sell_alcohol/" title="Article at The Echo">news broke today</a> that Tescos would be taking over the Borders store in Bournemouth Square. <br />
Shocked pensioners were seen to be <a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dancing+in+the+street&docid=191461393084&mid=71F19678FE349CBC981B71F19678FE349CBC981B&FORM=VIRE7#" title="Martha and some friends...">dancing in the street</a> as they heard that they too would be eligible to buy cheap alcohol from right in the centre of Bournemouth, despite initial protestations from the chap who owns the mini-convenience store round the corner on Richmond Hill.<br />
When interviewed Barry Garlow of “Extract This” (the well known boy band of the 90’s) demanded, “This is just the sort of inner city <a href="http://rejuvenationclinic.com/" title="Get yourself checked in (sponsored link)">rejuvenation</a> project old pop bands like ourselves love, it’s a win-win situation all round”.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Opening from 7am-11pm the store will provide Bournemouth Square with a much needed shopping store capable of serving those that come from as far afield as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadstone,_Dorset" title="Broadstone">Broadstone</a> due to the better bus connection and cheaper fares riding on Transdev Yellow than those of Wilts and Dorset.<br />
“I can get a return ticket to Bournemouth from right outside my house for £3.30”, conveyed a jubilated Broadstonian, “Not only is it faster than getting to Poole (avoiding a 20 minute walk) but it’s only 10p more”. <br />
Wilts and Dorset are expected to respond by funding the development of a Las Vegas style <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Strip" title="The Strip">strip</a> running past the bus station and Poole library. Will this bring in the punters? Who knows – watch this space…<br />
<em>(See ‘</em><a href="http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8434612.Planned_Tesco_for_Bournemouth_Square_wins_licence_to_sell_alcohol/"><em>The Echo</em></a>’<em> for original news article and reactionary comments by people who have nothing better to do than comment on the Echo – I’m only jealous, I’ve not had any comments posted for my informative stories yet).</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2191161860506675020.post-47744038625456962142010-10-06T19:13:00.005+01:002010-10-08T01:46:00.813+01:00The Bournemouth IMAX– on it’s way?<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8Msow6jI/AAAAAAAAJW0/1es1EJI9Hqk/s1600-h/DSC03035%5B5%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="Bournemouth Pier from the IMAX Balcony" border="0" height="94" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8NlP08BI/AAAAAAAAJW4/u_YhFovhZGA/DSC03035_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 9px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Bournemouth Pier from the IMAX Balcony" width="141" /></a>Who can forget the all pervasive sounds of disgruntlement that seeped into your car as you drove past Bournemouth Pier – back in the years that followed the erection of the IMAX cinema. What an erection it was.<br />
For some reason or another the planning office had agreed to give planning permission for what appeared to be an enormous metal box next door to the pier. After construction it was clear that it deprived everyone approaching the sea front of half of the view of the Solent.<br />
<a name='more'></a>An incredible act of foolishness on some councillor’s part, I’m sure. Never mind though, as the good news is the wheels are in motion for the building to be pulled down. In fact once can read here that there is hope just around the corner: <a href="http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/News/press_office/Press_Releases/October_2010/Council_starts_Imax_compulsory_purchase_order.asp">Council Starts Compulsory Purchase Order</a>.<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8PCOKEqI/AAAAAAAAJW8/iSWcodYMZCs/s1600-h/DSC03042%5B6%5D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="The IMAX metal box obscuring a view that some may remember..." border="0" height="160" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8UDH749I/AAAAAAAAJXA/iCkOBItvgMw/DSC03042_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The IMAX metal box obscuring a view that some may remember..." width="240" /></a><br />
So, we can all breath a sigh of relief that we will, once more, benefit from an unabridged version of the Bournemouth front sea-view (<em>sans</em> IMAX metal box), possibly as soon as early next year.<br />
Now – here’s the tricky part. Most of you, like me, will probably have boycotted the thing out of some misguided act of solidarity with the now seemingly ‘deceased’ (or, at least, some what curtailed) sea view. Fair enough. Since I heard the news that the building may be on it’s way out, however, I decided to pay it a visit – as a sort of ‘so long and thanks for all the fish’.<br />
I (and a good friend) climbed the stairs within the glass front entrance porch, past the ‘Wacky Warehouse’ family restaurant, to where civilised individuals (such as ourselves) could stop for a beer or a bottle of wine. Out onto the balcony we strode, slightly defiant – attempting to keep our ‘ooohs and ahhs’ to ourselves as the view <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8Vc_qjPI/AAAAAAAAJXE/kQA8Wu9JckI/s1600-h/DSC03034%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="The sunny balcony of IMAX" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5esm_lDnu1g/TKy8V0vMC6I/AAAAAAAAJXI/rZ7bq3kNT1U/DSC03034_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 8px 7px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The sunny balcony of IMAX" width="240" /></a>revealed itself. …and, in the words of a lesser known sketch from the 1970’s, inwardly we cried, “Oh Lord, this is fantastic, this is terrific”. <br />
The view was as beautiful as ever, it had even been improved from ground level as the screams of playful families had been left behind; all was serene on the azure horizon. Truly the view is breath taking and being able to appreciate it with some nibbles and a bottle or two of Merlot is something else.<br />
So, the good news is we will get it back before long. The bad news is we lose a wonderful drinking balcony to enjoy as the sun goes down. It’s a load off my mind, I can tell you, as I’ve been keeping it secret for these last six months, partly as I didn’t want to admit that it was so good and partly so that I could appreciate it in relative privacy. You may only have three months left of it so go and have a seat and a large glass.<br />
The replacement? I hear that a 40 foot homage to Peter Andre is on it’s way – although I hear lots of things, so that may mean nothing.<br />
<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f39bc186-3a16-4190-9986-89a1f381e3b4" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bournemouth" rel="tag">Bournemouth</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bournemouth+Pier" rel="tag">Bournemouth Pier</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IMAX" rel="tag">IMAX</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Pier" rel="tag">Pier</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Solent" rel="tag">Solent</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/wine" rel="tag">wine</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0